Starlight
by srslyallison
Summary: Sequel to Alienation and Acceptance. After an entire life of hoping for distance from people, Adellia finds it's the most troubling thing that could happen when you force yourself to care about someone.
1. Chapter 1

**((A/N well hey there c: this is a sequel to a previous fic i have written called Alienation and Acceptance. i'd suggest reading that one first so you can get an understanding about some references that may be made, and so some of this doesn't sound so out of left field. for those of you who did read AaA, i told you i'd get you a sequel! hehe. i ended up falling in love with writing adie and bones...and pretty much everybody else in star trek...so this was kind of a given, lol. anywho, normal disclaimer, i own nothing but adie. and the news reporter. so please don't take my nameless and personalityless news reporter. lmao. i'd love some reviews, and thanks so much for reading! enjoy!))**

Six months had passed since Lieutenant Adellia had finished dealing with the mess from the radiation and attacks from rogue Romulans. The crew of the Enterprise had been grounded for many reasons since they returned—their ship had suffered a lot of damage, some of which hadn't been thought of while they were in the heat of battle, so of course it went ignored. James Kirk's health had only just begun to get better, and he almost would not allow the ship to go without him as a captain. Some crewmembers hated how long they'd stayed on Earth when clearly they had things they could be doing.

Adellia was one of those crewmembers. She enjoyed the time she had been spending with Bones, her boss slash "significant other" (as much as Kirk teased her about it, she could not find herself saying the "b" word). She'd forgotten how much she didn't enjoy staying on Earth during those six months. She had made friends with those aboard the Enterprise, but other than that, didn't find herself doing too much on the big blue planet. This waiting period was excruciating for her. Without the Enterprise, she wasn't sure she had a purpose.

She was raised on Earth, but her experience was anything but pleasant. Being half Vulcan, she was immediately looked at funny on a planet mostly popular but human beings. Vulcan was always an option, of course, but she hated to think about how much worse it would be on that planet. In the back of her mind, she wondered if she didn't lose out on a huge opportunity to try and connect with those people. Unfortunately, now that it was gone, she regretted how little she visited that big red planet.

Bones, however, did not mind the waiting at all. Dr. Leonard McCoy (which was his proper name, and for the life of him, he could not remember how he got his nickname) enjoyed his job, certainly, but the environment…he could still take or leave being out in space. He was having a fine time spending his days with Adellia, or going out drinking with Kirk, Spock, and some more of the boys. He decided he preferred a quiet life over chasing Romulans and weathering dangerous levels of radiation, but something told him that quiet life would not be had for very long. Their ship was almost fixed, and Kirk was getting better—he could feel the stars getting closer already.

Through these six months, Bones and Adellia had been together casually, but had yet to make any serious commitments. As far as they went, they were just a bit over friends, and their relationship was anything but important to anyone else. Kirk still had to tease Bones for dating "one of them green-blooded hobgoblins", and Adellia had to put up with the newfound attention from the officers aboard the Enterprise who were friendly with Bones. This was a new and slightly worrisome experience for them, but so far, they'd made through it.

Adellia was over at Bones' house one average day, sitting on the couch with him and talking over the news. "So I said to him," Bones started, grinning from ear to ear as he clutched a brown bottle of beer by the neck. "I said, you don't know who you're messing with tonight, bub. And he tries to hit me, and punch me, but he was so drunk that it took me literally about one punch to really knock him out. And Kirk just starts rolling, he's laughing so hard, and all of that guy's friends just walks off, leaves him there drooling on the ground." He smirked widely down at her, as if it were a period on his heroic tale. He pushed a hand through his dark hair, still parted neatly (for now), and waited for an appropriate response.

"Sounds exciting," Adellia said, honestly (in spite of her cool, even tone), and she shrugged. "I suppose that is a good reason not to drink, when you go out. Perhaps you were chose as the designated flier that night for a reason?" she asked, pointedly. He did drink a lot. It wasn't a horrible habit, like it could have been, but she still didn't exactly love how much he drank. And she tried not to pester him about it—Adellia was doing everything within her power to refrain from being one of _those_ significant others.

"Maybe, or maybe it was just because I drew the short straw," he said, and he looked to the news, his eyebrows rising, but he added in a tiny smirk. "What's…what the hell is this?" Bones asked as soon as a news story caught his attention, and the two of them turned to the television, curious.

The anchorman began to go into a story about a group of tourists traveling near Cardassian space who were taken over, questioned, and now imprisoned for a number of infractions they cause by entering a certain kind of space. No word had been heard from the Cardassians or the humans, but early in their stay ("Enslavement is more like it!" Bones snapped suddenly), they caused a malfunction in a star the Cardassians used for an energy source. They had it blinking, in order to send a signal for help to any Federation planet that happened to catch it.

"That was the star I saw, when we landed!" Adellia exclaimed suddenly, and she sat back, frowning a little bit. A bit of guilt was circling around her head. "I just thought it was a star that was dying, or something, though…I didn't ever think it could be a cry for help," she mumbled, looking disappointed in her eyes. She should have reported it, should have _mentioned_ it to somebody, surely they would have found it at least a little intriguing…

"Well, how were you supposed to know? Hell, you were probably the only one who caught it…these guys have been missing for months," Bones said, already hearing the thought process in her head. She sighed, and he put an arm around her shoulders, mostly just to shut up that thought process that was still going on between her little pointed ears.

"That's a shame…most people who are held there can't be brought back, with all the regulations that go into it. Extradition isn't usually used, since obviously I'm sure most of those tourists were perfect, law-abiding citizens," Bones continued, and with his other hand, sipped some of his beer from the dark brown bottle. "They'll probably try, but, I mean…they probably won't be very successful."

"There is a possibility of them being rescued," she said, but it was obvious in her voice that she did not believe herself. A few moments went by, and as a story about a new Tribbles petting farm popping up in the area, she looked back up to him. It was painfully obvious that she was uncomfortable with something, and Bones just couldn't _wait_ to find out what she was uncomfortable about. "Do you think we will be given an assignment within the next few days?" she asked.

Bones frowned. "Hard to say. They say there's still some repairs to be made, but Jim's all better, so…why?" he asked, looking down at her nervous expression. Which made him even more nervous, honestly. Every time she took the time to look anxious like this, his own anxiety was usually not far behind.

"Well, I suppose I was wondering if perhaps you would like to meet my father. He has been talking about visiting me down here, now that he's accumulated vacation time. You would like him, I think," she said, and she smiled. She knew this was a big step for two people, to meet each other's parents so formally like this. Adellia wondered for days whether or not this was too soon, because she had no basis to go on. This was important in adult relationships; she knew that much. But was six months way too soon? Was it too late? Was she being completely paranoid for no particular reason? She looked up for any reaction from Bones.

He picked up his glass, and gulped down some of the drink, wincing as he did. He set the drink back down and let out a sigh. His blue eyes looked forward to the television, but it was obvious he was not paying any attention. He'd taken this time to formulate a response that wouldn't discourage her, but hopefully give her a good idea as to where he stood with all of this…nonsense. "Well, I mean…if your old man wants to see you, and meet me, I don't see a problem with that. My parents are all the way back in Jackson, though, so I don't think they'll be traveling up here any time soon." He took one more sip, just to busy himself.

That was a small hint, from him to her. Bones wasn't sure when this would become more serious, but apparently the time was now. He knew the significance of meeting her father, and he hoped the two of them had no preconceived notions about Bones. He was still hurting, mistrusting, and hesitance about anything to do with seriousness (or at least, that's what Adellia usually assumed). As far as he was concerned, the two of them were just enjoying the moment. He was positive she was on the same page, but…maybe she wasn't.

Adellia just sort of nodded, and looked away. Already she felt like a fool for bringing it up. What made her think he would be ready for moving on a little bit? She shifted a little uncomfortably, and Bones removed his arm from around her, leaving her to curl up on the opposite end of the couch. The silence between them was deafening, but in her head, questions and speculation continued to move. She wondered why she bothered with emotions, why she couldn't just choke them down like any normal Vulcan.

She'd noticed that the more time they spent together, the more distant she felt from him. He was still stuck on square one, and she didn't have the heart to try and push him further. The last thing Adellia wanted was to push him too far away—she had a great thing, here, and she would do almost anything to protect it. He was one of the best things to happen in her life. At the same time, it had been six months now, which seemed like a century for most people. Right? Adellia sighed to herself, and looked up to Bones, looking a little sick about all of this already. And it had only just begin.

"Hey, Bones? Can I talk to you about something—" she started, when his phone began to ring. She rolled her eyes a little bit and for just a small moment, but smiled up at, and nodded for him to go ahead and answer the phone. Hopefully, this conversation would be forgotten by the time he hung up, and she could go back to try and choking down her emotions.

Bones answered it with an apologetic look towards Adellia, but in the back of his head he was thrilled she was interrupted. He said the typical greeting, knowing who it was already. "Hey, Bones. Pack up," Kirk said from the other side. It sounded as if he were in a party or a bar, based on all the voices in the background. Bones could hear clinking glasses, yelling, and some obnoxious music with a serious bass line.

"Why? Are we getting orders soon?" Bones asked, and Adellia looked up, curiously. _Orders, thank goodness_, she thought. _Then I can get off this big blue disaster._

"It looks like we'll be getting them tomorrow. Ooh, and tell Adie to pack up, too." He paused for effect. "We both know she's there," Kirk continued, and he snickered at his uncanny ability to know about his friend's habits. "Hey, you should come down here. Me and Scotty are tearing up the place, and he needs a good wingman!" he yelled over the people who had come up behind them. "Besides, it's the last night on ground—a good enough reason to celebrate for you! Take off the ball and chain for just one night."

Bones sighed. "Um…" he mumbled, and he looked up to Adellia, who smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'll come out there. Be there in twenty. And tell Scotty to stop using that star pick-up line, it's damn tired," he said, smirking, and he hung up the phone. He looked back over to her, and he smiled. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked, and he stood up, going to get ready. For what, he wasn't sure, but people tended to look respectable at a place like this.

She shook her head. "No, I don't at all," she replied, and she honestly didn't. Adellia wasn't going to hold him back…again, she didn't want to be that kind of significant other. And besides, the longer he was away, the more distant that conversation would get "Go out and have a fun time, Bones. I should go home and pack anyway, if we are indeed getting orders to ship out tomorrow." She, too, stood up, and stretched a bit.

Bones put his hands on her shoulders, and pulled her close for a small peck on her lips. "We'll talk when we find the time, alright? I'll see you later, darling." He nodded, and left to go and get changed, knowing she knew the way out. He meant that, too…Bones may have been a jerk sometimes, but he knew when something needed to be said. He was no shrink, but he'd listen to her.

Adellia sighed, watching him go off, and she let herself out to try and pack what she could. Her cheeks were tinted green as she made her way out, and she prayed he would just forget about all that she had to say.

**((A/N also, in case anyone was wondering (i know you all had to be pining for this information), the title and some of the fic was inspired by a Muse song called "Starlight". it's a gorgeous song, i highly recommend youtubing it c: again, thank you so much for reading. this is the first sequel i've ever written, so...hopefully it goes down well, hehe.))**


	2. Chapter 2

**((A/N hey! thanks to all the readers...especially to all those who followed AaA and came back to watch this one c: also, thanks for the review, it's appreciated! reviews are an excellent way for me to receive any sort of feedback, be it a glowing review or some constructive criticism. anywho...thanks so much!))**

Jim Kirk stood in front of all of the many crewmembers serving on the Enterprise, with Spock, Bones, and Scotty on his side. They were currently in the large shuttle hanger, on their way up to the Enterprise. His prediction was correct—orders were given, and he was now gathering his crew up for some nice space exploration. He had his hands behind his back as he surveyed the people below him. Kirk was happy to see that aside from the casualties lost on the previous mission, there were no regime changes. He nodded to the crowd who waited anxiously to board the shuttles.

"Good afternoon, I'm Captain Kirk. We've _finally_ been given a new mission, and that is to visit the planet Cardassia Prime, and attempt to negotiate the safe return of the captured humans," he explained, easily enough. Like all of this was no big deal…and to him, it probably was not. "The mission shouldn't take too long, because we all know how nice the Cardassians can be." He winked, even at a particular science cadet who had been staring up at him with big bright eyes. "Everybody board up according to how it usually is, and…I'll see you all later." He grinned, and turned over to his officers, looking quite pleased with himself.

Bones rolled his eyes at his informality of it all and hopped down from where they stood, walking next to Scotty towards the shuttle all of the head honchos (which was what Kirk had been calling them for some time now) took. "I wonder how long this one will take," Scotty mused, sneaking in a bite from a Mars bar, and he looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Food wasn't exactly permitted for shuttle travel, but…come on, it was a Mars bar. He had to have one last one before going into space.

"I'm not sure," Bones said, but he was clearly not interested in this conversation. He was scanning the crowd, trying to look for Adellia, He finally laid eyes on her heading into one of the shuttles. She walked like she was balancing a book perfectly on her head, he noticed. Bones smirked and walked forward, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She turned around, and he flashed a small smile, which was returned. There was something about the way she looked, though, something that wasn't…right, exactly. She'd obviously been deep in some thought.

"Now you didn't think you'd be riding with them, did you?" he asked, and he smirked, nodding over to the others' shuttle. "Come on over to first class, even if…technically it's the same as the others." He hoped she wanted to, anyway. He'd only just remembered that they hadn't gotten the chance to talk about whatever it was she had on her mind (honestly, he had a few guesses). Hopefully the inclusion of Kirk, Spock, and everybody on their own shuttle would be a nice distraction, but something told him that would not be the case.

"Ooh, right. Alright," she said, smiling up to him sweetly. The uneasy feeling she remembered came back, right into the pit of her gut. She didn't really want to mention the attempt at a talk about where they stood, and where he would like to continue. Perhaps she could take a cue from him, and continue to go with the flow. After all, it'd only been six months…right? How many times had she even asked herself that question, anyway? Too many times for her to count.

As if reading her mind, he sighed. "Ooh, and, uhh…sorry about last night. You know how Jim is…if I didn't go, he would have knocked me out and dragged me to the bar," he said, walking next to her, but didn't dare make any physical contact aside from his casual shoulder touch before. He noticed how quickly gossip spread through the crew, and she had been promoted to Lieutenant in place of Dr. Martinez when they returned. He did not need the sort of talk that Spock and Uhura received, sometimes. He knew they were both private people, especially when it came to this sort of thing. Neither of them needed that kind of intrusion.

He led her to the shuttle and allowed her to go in first. She plopped down next to a young blonde boy named Pavel Chekov, who had been invited onto the shuttle by the slightly amused Captain Kirk. He looked around, his cheery eyes taking everything in as quickly as he could. This was his first time being invited to this shuttle, after all. This was exciting! "Ooh, hello, Dr. Adellia!" he said, and he offered his eager hand, which she took with a little smile.

"Good morning, Ensign Chekov. It's nice to see you again," she said, pretty sure she'd never seen someone look as eager as he did. But then again, if Adellia hadn't been burdened by the worry in her heart for the situation her relationship was in, she would be nervous too. This was the big leagues.

"It is nice to be seeing you again, doctor," he said. Immediately he turned from Adellia and looked forward, introducing himself to another Officer from the science department, who seemed a little taken aback and his enthusiasm.

Adellia turned back to Bones as he buckled up. Their shuttle was the first to take off, much to the dismay of poor Bones, who clenched his arm rests with white knuckles the closer they got to the end of Earth's atmosphere. He did his best not to look out of the window, and watch the ground get smaller and smaller. Why he joined Starfleet was beyond him, considering how terrifying this experience was for him, but…he wouldn't have met his friends, and her. On the other hand, space was a mess. How many times had he had this argument with himself, now?

Adellia smiled, and gently placed a hand on his, nodding. "You know we'll be okay," she mumbled into his ear, and nodded, meeting his eyes with her own bright ones. "Aren't you excited to get back to work?" she asked. She was trying to focus on the positives. Which was admittedly very difficult to do around him. Especially when space travel was involved.

"I'd be more excited if we didn't have to go through the damn atmosphere in a clinky little nothing…" he grumbled, but he held her hand back, and rolled his eyes at how everyone else seemed to be relaxed and unfazed by all of this nonsense. Chekov was talking to anyone who would listen to him, Kirk and Spock were chatting about the mission at hand and the probability of them being successful, and Scotty was busy offering Uhura part of his candy bar, to be polite.

"Maybe I could take your mind off of it, a little bit," Adellia said, and she put on a very concentrated face. "I suppose, the other day, I just wanted to talk to you about…your reaction to the news that my father was interested in meeting you." Her voice was so quiet; Bones could barely hear her, even if she was right next to him. "You seemed hesitant to meet him, perhaps because of the expectations that come along with meeting your…significant other's family."

"I didn't have any response to any of that expectations bull—"

"I just wanted to let you know that I have no expectations, if that's what you thought," she interrupted, her voice cool and even, and it seemed to be irritating Bones just a little bit.

Both of them were lying. Bones knew very well there were expectations in that invitation, and he'd been wrestling with them ever since it was brought to his attention. He just couldn't stop his mind from going directly back to his marriage with Samantha, and the bitter divorce that followed. He didn't want to end up hating Adellia in the way that sometimes he felt he hated Sam, and she did not deserve someone like him. In his mind, he thought he was someone destined to screw up and make mistakes. She deserved someone who was going to do good for her.

Adellia knew very well that she had expectations of him, but she was hesitant to voice them. She didn't want to lose him because of some mistaken feeling…feelings were just way too complicated for her, after years of trying to shut them out. This sudden need to know precisely what to feel and how to express those feelings left her feeling dizzy, and the last thing she wanted was to confuse him enough to make him think this through again.

She looked up at Spock and Uhura. How did they do it? Did they just understand each other in a way that neither she nor Bones understood each other? Spock didn't know how to handle emotions in the exact same way as she did, and yet, he had no problem connecting with Uhura. Perhaps they just cared more about each other, and worked harder to make that relationship work. Adellia suddenly felt badly about not feeling like she was working hard enough, but then again…neither was he, was he?

She was pulled from her thoughts as she felt Bones squeezing her hand tighter, and she wondered that if she didn't have her Vulcan strength whether or not it would hurt. She looked over to see beads of sweat glistening on his forehead, and she let out a gentle sigh, moving over to face him as she did. She was thankful that no one seemed to be paying any attention to either one of them because of what she was about to do. Her thumb caressed his hand gently as she hummed a calming song in his ear, to avoid a panic attack. She remembered the song from when her mother used to sing it to her, as a child. At first, Bones grimaced at the Vulcan language, but he found that when she sang it, it sounded…very pretty.

Once they finally exited Earth's atmosphere, it was silent from outside. She stopped singing in order to avoid embarrassment for him, and looked up at him, curious to see if she'd helped. "We're almost there, don't worry." She said this with a cheerful smile, knowing it was probably appreciated. Hopefully. Adellia tried everything she could to make him feel better.

"I'm not worrying, I'd just…love a drink, is all," he said, but he knew there was no hiding it from her. She knew, everyone knew. He put a hand through his hair, and leaned back, taking in a deep breath. A panic attack was narrowly avoided. It was a good thing he was a doctor, or he would be awful at preventing those. Nevermind Adellia…

As if picking up some cue, Chekov looked over to the two of them, and saw Bones in his worried state. "Don't vorry, Dr. McCoy! If anyzing were to happen, ve vould not even know vat happened, because ve'd die so quickly!" he said, and grinned, content that he was helping poor Bones as best as he possibly could have. Adellia gave him a thankful little smile even if she knew he'd probably done more harm than good.

"Yeah, I'm well aware of that, thanks son…" he said, and rolled his eyes, causing Kirk to finally take notice and laugh right at poor Bones, who glared back.

----

They could not have arrived any sooner as far as Bones was concerned. He led Adellia to the familiar medical bay, and at once went to his office to unpack some antiemetics and quickly down them, desperately. Adellia stayed behind, allowing him to have his alone time (which he had a lot of, lately, she'd noticed). She began working on getting the sickbay a little more organized, helping the nurses and doctors along with what to do. It was amazing what they left behind after the battle, and how awful the cleaning crew was at organizing and making sure things got done as the ship was repaired. She wondered if they were expected to be the cleaning crew.

As she organized in the supply closet a little better, thoughts about her feelings came back into her mind. Bones was the one who convinced her that trying to suppress her emotions was not the best route to take, so why was she being so careful about it around him? She didn't want to upset him, or make him think too hard about why they were together in the first place. What if he second guessed the feelings he thought he was having? Adellia was terrified of losing a good thing, especially when this was one of the first good things she'd had.

It wasn't as if she meant to walk on eggshells around him, and she knew he didn't really require it. Bones was not a sensitive man, he didn't need people to agree with him all the time, and he wasn't pushy whatsoever. She just would hate to say the wrong thing around him, lest he think twice about her.

Adellia felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned around to see Bones. He stood there with a small smile, and he looked around the closet. "This place is a mess. Do you need any help cleaning it up?" he asked, offering an olive branch, so to speak. He wanted to give her an opportunity to talk to him, if she wanted to…now would have been the perfect time, after all. But knowing his luck, really…he wiped some sweat from his forehead, and glanced down at her, bracing himself for the storm.

But the storm never came. She shook her head. "No, no, I think I can handle it." She saw his expression go a little disappointed, and she blinked. Time to do some serious backtracking, but in the process, she managed to babble on like an idiot. What was it about him that make her so very nervous? "Unless you'd like to, I suppose I could use the help, if you wanted to. But I don't want to make you, so if you don't want to—"

Bones put his index finger on her lips, and he replaced his finger with his lips for just a moment. "Calm down," he said with a small laugh, and he walked out of the closet, leaving her a nervous wreck. As per usual.


	3. Chapter 3

**((A/N hallo. same disclaimer, i don't own anything but adie. thanks for all the readers c: reviews are still very appreciated, of course. enjoy!))**

"Alright, Sulu. Punch it."

Kirk sat back in his chair as he watched his ship go into warp towards Cardassia Prime, to save those who were being kept there. He yawned a little bit before looking back to Bones who was apparently there because he had nothing else to do. That was a good sign, Kirk thought, at least no one had managed to get hurt yet. Still, Kirk had a sneaking suspicion there was another reason he was avoiding the medical bay. Perhaps a pointy-eared ball and chain might be to blame. He nudged his friend who had been staring out into space (literally) to try and get his attention. When Bones looked up and over to Kirk, he was greeted with a wide grin on the young captain's face, to which he just sort of sighed like the smile was so inappropriate.

"So…err. How're you and Adie?" Kirk asked, quietly. He knew Bones didn't like talking about it in public (something to do with a promotion, apparently), but they were among friends here on the bridge, right? Sulu and Chekov certainly didn't care, it wasn't logical for Spock to say anything, and Uhura didn't seem the type to gossip. He hoped. It seemed to the only one who would bother repeating anything was Kirk himself, and he wouldn't do that. Bones was his friend, something like an older brother Kirk always wanted. He wasn't going to betray that kind of trust.

He frowned down at Kirk, but answered anyway. "We're…we are," he said, and shrugged. This was a warning to Kirk (which he would probably not even take) to back off of this touchy subject. It just didn't seem relevant to anybody's life…or at least, it _shouldn't_ have been relevant. Why did people care about his relationship? Was it really all that important to them?

"Well, that was a cryptic answer. Are there issues?"

"Would you mind your damn business?" Bones asked and rolled his eyes. Maybe that was enough of a hint to shut that man up. "There's some things, but that's everyone nowadays, innit?" he grumbled, and he shrugged, looking around. He put his hands behind his back, and sighed softly to himself, just trying to figure out how to turn this conversation around immediately. Especially in front of everybody else, who now seemed to be paying some vague attention. "How are you and Gaila?" he asked, defensively and accusingly.

"Who?" Kirk asked, and listened to Bones mumbling something about being so much of a whore that he couldn't remember a girl who was green. He just sort of smirked in return. "You know, if you and Adie are having troubles, you can talk to me. I'm not just your captain….I'm your friend." Kirk gave him some puppy dog eyes, obviously joking around with his friend. His smirk only grew as Bones became more irritated. It was as if irritating Bones was a sport. Kirk would gladly win gold.

"Yeah, some friend you are," he said, and he rolled his eyes for about the third time this conversation. Jim tended to have that effect on him, though, and he probably always would. "There's nothing to talk about, absolutely nothing." He looked down at Jim, and then noticed Spock out of the corner of his eye. He glared at the Vulcan, very defensive, now. Oh, that was the very last thing he needed, was this green-blooded bastard to stick his pointy nose into his business "And what the hell are you looking at?" he snapped, frowning.

Spock blinked, slightly taken aback. "I was attempting to catch Jim's attention so he may address a curious matter," he said, and he looked away, not really wanting to upset Bones any further. Bones really did annoy Spock when he was upset, as he usually was.

"What's up, Spock?" Kirk asked, diverting his attention from his pouting friend for now to actually do his job. He may as well have gotten started at some point, right?

"Well, it appears that the gravity around us has changed a small amount. It seems as if another ship has entered warp, right as we flew by," he said, and he looked back over to Kirk.

"Hm…Sulu, pull us out of warp and see if someone's trying to catch our attention," he said, and he leaned back in his chair as they eased out of warp speed. The stars began to look like individual twinkling stars, then, and Bones' expression softened when he remembered Adellia's admiration for them.

As soon as they did, Chekov announced that they were being hailed for a transmition. Kirk invited it, and before them stood a Cardassian, looking very formal and a little curious about the ship. He was tall, big, and grey like most Cardassians. "Hello, captain. I have been sent to track down the Federation ship coming to our planet in order to offer negotiations towards the release of your humans." He paused, taking in curious looks. "Our leaders have thought it wise to send me along to initiate these negotiations. I require entrance onto your ship, so that we may begin these negotiations on a more personal level."

The entire bridge was silent, and every single one of them was staring at Kirk, wondering what on Earth he intended to do about this. After what felt like hours, he looked back up at the screen and nodded once. "You'll be allowed to come onto our ship, but I only ask one thing; you are to leave your weapons behind. I am only allowing you two men to accompany you," he said, looking all-business now that he was entrusted with the safety of the crew. "Two of our officers will meet you at the pad, and they will accompany you to the bridge," Kirk said, and the Cardassian agreed.

When the transmition was cut, he looked up to Spock. "Go meet them down there, and have Scotty come back up with you. Don't let them out of your sight for anything, and make sure on be on guard," he said, frowning forward and staring at the space in front of them. In his mind he was weighing the consequences of what he just did…there were much more of Starfleet than there were of Cardassians, however, so surely there wouldn't be anything wrong with what he just did.

When Spock left to receive the aliens, Bones snuck up behind Kirk with a very serious look on his face. "You really think letting that scum onto our ship was the best idea?" he asked, not entirely disapproving, of course. Just mostly disapproving.

"I think the sooner we get this out of the way, the sooner we can move on and get those people to safety," he said with a small nod, and turned back over to Bones. "You know something? You worry too much. You need to relax a little more." He clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. Bones grimaced and rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time. The two of them waited anxiously, matching the anxiety that could be felt in the rest of the room.

Finally, they arrived. The man they had been talking to came with just one other crewmember. Kirk stood up, and just nodded respectively. He didn't care to remember the proper Cardassian greeting, because honestly, he could not have cared less. Most alien species didn't bother learning about the human's greetings, so why bother, really?

Both Cardassians were tall, taller than any of the others on the bridge. They had distinct ridges coming from their foreheads and around their eyes, with a teardrop-shaped indentation on their forehead. Their skin was sickly grey, and both of their dark hair was sleeked back out of their way. They were also both quite larger than any human or Vulcan on deck. Mentally, Kirk compared them to some bouncers he'd seen on Earth clubs and bars. They glanced around the ship, taking in all manner of life calculatingly before he looked back down to Kirk.

"My name is Laknar," said the one who had been talking with Kirk via ship-to-ship transmition.

"Captain Kirk," Jim said, and he looked around. "We would be willing to offer money in exchange for them brought to us, safely and unharmed. You know that Earth does not willingly trade with Cardassia, but if there is something in particular you'd like…"

"We want neither money nor items," Laknar began, but what exactly he wanted, Kirk never figured out.

At that moment, Uhura walked through the elevator doors, looking over some transcripts she'd translated. Out of instinct, the other Cardassian raised his hand and went for his weapon (he'd clearly ignored the rules Kirk laid out for them), shooting right at her. In a split second she fell onto the ground, hurt but still alive. Kirk dove for Laknar, getting him down with the help of Sulu, while Chekov hurriedly yelled for security. They were there in moments, tackling down the Cardassians easily enough, though Kirk had to wonder if they just allowed the crew to bring them down to avoid any intergalactic incident.

Uhura was picked up by Bones, pulled out of the elevator, and gently set back down on the floor. Bones looked over her quickly while Spock hovered, panting. "Is she injured?" he asked quickly. "Has she been stunned, will she make a positive recovery?" he asked, now sounding a lot more nervous than Bones had ever heard him sound. Bones shoved him out of the way as he went over her body with the tricorder. He paid close attention to her stats, frowning with intense concentration.

"She's been stunned, but…her blood pressure is really low. I'm going to need you help me transfer her to the medical bay, so I can stabilize her," he explained, quickly, and he rose up. He watched as the equally stunned Cardassians were brought into the elevator, and presumably (hopefully, too) the brig. Bones took in a couple of breaths as Spock picked her up, holding her limp body in his arms closely.

He envied the closeness Spock felt with her…Bones knew he would do nearly anything to keep Adellia safe, but for someone who had issues with emotions, Spock was pretty good at expressing himself. He wasn't sure how he would have reacted if that had been Adellia (which it easily could have been). Bones was sure he would have reacted much in the same way he did with Uhura, and that kind of pained him a little.

----

As Adellia checked over Uhura again (thought she kept a pointy ear on what was happening between Bones and Spock, curiously), Bones approached Spock. "She'll have to be kept here for a couple of days, so we can make sure she'll stay as stable as we're making her right now. I haven't seen a phaser like this before, which is another reason why we'd like to keep an eye on her. We don't want anything to go wrong while we're not looking."

Spock nodded, keeping an even face. "May I inquire as to what her prognosis will be?" he asked, his eyes intense. Behind his slightly concentrated eyes, Adellia recognized the compassion, and her heart was warmed by it. He felt. This made her feel a little bit better about herself and helped validate her feelings just that much more.

"It looks as if she'll pull through well, and be alright, but that's only with the information we have now," he said with a small nod. "She's strong, Spock. She'll be okay. There's no use worrying." Bones even offered a tiny, albeit forced, smile towards Spock. He was just trying to be comforting, as comforting as he could have been in a situation like this. Bones wasn't known for his bedside manner—this spark of compassion for Spock was a little odd. But hey, he had a newfound respect for Vulcans. Especially half-Vulcans.

He looked down at him. "In this situation, worrying seems perfectly logical to me. Had Adellia been in this situation, would you not also worry?" he asked, and he sighed, looking back over Uhura longingly. It was painfully obvious he hadn't meant to be rude to Bones, but he was very worried about Uhura. "May I visit her?"

Bones decided not to comment on what Spock had said, because yes, Bones would have been a nervous wreck. He didn't want to think about what he would feel like, going through that. "You can see her when she wakes up. I'll contact you when she does, but for now, she really does need her sleep," he said, and he looked down at his feet, walking away and leaving it at that.

Bones knew Spock would linger there for a moment before leaving, and he did. When Adellia walked out of Uhura's room, she smiled and nodded towards Bones. "She's stable for now, but she'll require two checks every hour, I suspect. I've had a nurse do some research on Cardassian phasers, and this is a very typical reaction in a human. Her blood pressure should be back up to normal in a few days."

"Good, thanks…" he mumbled, still thinking about what Spock said. Bones would have liked to believe that he would have responded that way, but in all actuality, he probably would have ended up just going into doctor mode, and disappearing until she was better.

"Are you alright? You weren't injured, were you?" Adellia asked, looking concerned as she looked up at him.

He was brought out of his thought process by her voice, and he smiled softly down at her. "Me? No, no, I'm not hurt at all," he said, and he put an arm around her shoulders, shaking them a little bit as he looked forward. "So you can quit with that worrying, d'you hear me?" She nodded, smiling to herself, and he pecked her temple chastely. He knew she was worrying more than she should have. Kind of like what he would have been doing, if he were in her situation. Kind of.


	4. Chapter 4

**((A/N hai there! thanks to all of my readers c: i'm so happy a lot of you are following the story. reviews are loved, it's a good way to get feedback for me c: i own nothing by adie. thanks for reading!))**

The following day, they were on their way back to the planet, looking to continue negotiations despite what happened with Uhura and the phaser-happy Cardassian. The Cardassians were placed securely into the brig, and had been allowed contact with their home planet, despite the complications that occurred. Kirk figured it would be best to remain diplomatic…the last thing they needed was an intergalactic incident, after all. He didn't intend to start wars.

Kirk had been furious—not only was this severly embarrassing for him, but for the rest of his crew. Obviously he had to report this to Starfleet, and they had to wonder why he allowed this brouhaha. He tried to explain to Starfleet the boundaries he set in accordance with the procedures that were laid out, but they didn't seem to be hearing it. Thankfully, he managed to avoid any disciplinary action and was granted to opportunity to complete his mission, but this was not without any kind of fight. He forced his opinions heard, as per usual. In the back of his mind, though, Uhura was his concern.

Spock came back to visit her as much as he possibly could, something Adellia admired about him. The two of them seemed legitimately devoted to each other. This was something she was beyond happy to see. It gave her hope for the future of her and Bones—something that until recently felt a little impossible. She expected Bones would visit her, but he would probably visit her to check up on her. Not in the way Spock visited Uhura. Spock stayed with her as long as he could, made it a point to drop in when he had any sort of spare time, and when he left she was always grinning like a fool.

Adellia was standing over Uhura, attempting to stabilize her blood pressure once more. "Uck, I just want out of here, know what I mean?" Uhura said, conversationally, as she smiled up at Adellia. "But, I suppose I have to stay in here until I'm normal…when do you think that'll be?" she asked, glancing down at her nails. Uhura hated hospitals. She always had, and she more than likely always had. But she'd been curious about Adellia…it was hard to get one-on-one time with someone when they went out in the group that they did. Uhura thought she might be able to relate to Adie, thanks to their similar positions.

Adellia frowned, thinking her question over for a moment to give her the best answer she could. "Given your current blood pressure before I stabilized it, you have approximately four days until you'll be able to be released. But I wouldn't worry too much about it…your post has been secured," she said, smiling down at the woman. "You are doing quite better than you were yesterday, however." She looked over her chart a little bit more, taking in some information to make sure her analysis was correct.

Uhura nodded, and looked forward for a moment. She thought about a concern of Spock's, and whether or not is should be a concern for her, too. "It's alright that Commander Spock visits me so often, isn't it? I didn't hear anyone saying anything, but he seemed to worry that he might be affecting my progress…" It was obvious she didn't believe that at all. Or, at least, didn't want to believe it.

Adellia smiled down at Uhura, shaking her head. "No, no…if anything, your blood pressure might go up a little at the sight of him." She knew the feeling, mostly. But the two of them were so close it was almost like they were meant to be this way with each other. As if they were born for each other. That was an odd notion for Adellia, but she was absolutely fascinated by it, and wanted to ask so many questions, but did not think it was appropriate. Adellia was the doctor, after all, and asking your patient about their romantic lives was not technically great ethics.

"So no, Lieutenant, I do not believe he is hindering you in any way. He's welcome to visit you, night or day, so long as you are alright with it," Adellia concluded, and began to type some things on her chart about Uhura's condition.

"How are you and Bones?" Uhura asked suddenly, and Adellia glanced up at her chart, absolutely shocked that the question was asked. Uhura had been meaning to ask her (it sounded like polite enough conversation), but knew this might have come as a shock to Adellia. "I know you two like to keep it all underwraps, but…I dunno, you can't help but notice how you guys are together. He's always opening doors and pulling out chairs. He's a real gentleman."

"He is," Adellia responded, tersely, but with a polite smile. "We are doing well, I suppose. How are you and Commander Spock?" Adellia would have never asked the question without Uhura going first, but…she found herself getting curious as to how they were. She listened with open ears.

"Ooh, well, you know how it is. It can be frustrating, because he's so closed off all the time. I understand why he has to be, but…I dunno. Two different cultures, and species, clashing and all that. Do you have that problem with you and Bones? You don't seem a lot like Spock, in that way, but…I dunno." Like most people on the Enterprise, she couldn't for the life of her pinpoint what exactly was different about Adellia, but there was certainly something.

Adellia tensed a little bit, and she shook her head. "No. Despite our similar situations, Commander Spock and myself have very little in common. He was raised in an entirely different culture, after all. I was raised in a culture similar to yours, I'm sure," she said, robotically. On the inside, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at Uhura's continuing curiosity for Adellia's relationship. Couldn't they focus more on the stable relationship rather than the embarrassingly rocky one?

"Well, that's good to hear. It must be easier, being raised on Earth. Probably why you get along with Bones as well as you do," Uhura commented, but she couldn't help but feel the small distance in between the two of them. "I had just heard something from Jim, about, y'know…I don't know. Rumors can be silly," she said, and she forced a small smile, as if that erased her mentioning the rumors. It was beyond obvious she was curious, but Uhura was /trying/ to be tactful about it.

This woman was relentless. Adellia lowered the chart that she had been using as a barrier and met Uhura's eyes directly. "There is a small rift between Bones and myself, but it is nothing I am concerned with," Adellia finally said, and sighed a little bit, finished with her chart now. "It is a normal behavior, from both of us." Adellia smiled, and put her chart down. "Is there anything I can get for you, Lieutenant?"

Uhura shook her head, and Adellia walked out, displaying a peppy smile on her way out. The smile fell as soon as she had her back to Uhura. As soon as the smile fell, Adellia began to kick herself mentally. Was it that obvious, really? Their distance was noticeable when you put them next to Spock and Uhura, certainly, but was it obvious to the entire crew? When it had only been obvious to the two of them for less than two weeks? Adellia glanced back down, feeling a little frustrated with this situation for the first time.

It wasn't supposed to be complicated. And perhaps this wasn't the most complicated of relationships, but it was some sort of complicated, wasn't it? She didn't want to believe this couldn't—or wouldn't—be worked out by either of them, this mysterious distance. The distance appeared out of nowhere, seemingly, and she hated it. She hated it more than anything. Saying that it appeared out of nowhere made her wonder if it had, though…was it there the entire time, and she was just too dense to notice something like that? Did Bones even notice it? He was supposed to be more of an expert than her, so if he didn't catch it, well then…she had an excuse. But what if he was ignoring it? Or worse, acknowledged it but didn't do anything about it?

Adellia walked to the supply closet to find some batteries for her tricorder when she saw Bones in there. She blinked, and smiled. "Hello," she said, and suddenly all of her frustration with him was gone, and her frustration with herself began. The level of awkward in this conversation could be easily predicted, and it annoyed her to absolutely no end. "How is Ensign Weq doing?"

"He got discharged, actually, while you were with Uhura," he replied, and the awkward suddenly seeped into supply closet. His mind wandered back to their first kiss, which was a result of a situation quite a lot like this. He sighed, and began to look for some larger sized gloves, keeping his focus with said gloves. This time he didn't feel like solving it in the way he used to. The vibe wasn't there, and he didn't think manufactured vibe was necessarily a good thing. That sort of thing tended to make a situation much worse.

Adellia decided she may as well speak up, while she still had the patience. "I was wondering if perhaps, we could…talk, about something."

"Bout what?" he asked suddenly, and turned to her. His expression became hard and defensive all of a sudden, which was not unusual when they broached uncomfortable situations. He looked back over to her, and he leaned against the shelf, folding his arms over his chest. His foot may as well have been tapping. Adellia was shocked to see him looking so impatient, but his impatience was geared mostly towards him.

He was frustrated with this situation just as much as she. He wished he could turn off his natural instinct to avoid this conversation, and avoid any confrontation with her, for fear of scaring her away. He didn't need her leaving, not while they had a good thing going on together. He just assumed they would work well together—she was the water that cooled him down, and he was the fire under her that got her going.

"About us. And how…distant we are," Adellia said, quietly, and she looked down, avoiding his baby blues. "I know you don't want to talk about this, and who could blame you? I don't either. But I feel that if we do not get this out into the open soon, we may just be…stuck, or…" Adellia sighed, and she pushed back some her bangs. "I apologize. You know I am no expert in matters such as these." She blushed green, glancing around before looking down at the ground. She was such a stupid woman around him sometimes, and it was very embarrassing.

"Adie, come on, don't…don't apologize, this isn't your fault or anything. It's…" he sighed, rolling his eyes up to the heavens and asking the Lord why he would bestow this kind of stress upon him. "You don't have to do this nervous bit, I'm not going to get pissed off at you for speaking your mind," he said, looking a bit frustrated that she would even think he would.

When he saw her expression, he blinked. "You think I'm going to get angry with you because you think there's some distance or something? Well guess what, Adie?" he mumbled, and he sighed. "I'm not. I'm just…trying to figure out how to work this. I'm no expert either, you should know that by now, what with my ex-wife and all…" Bones mumbled. That was such a cheap and useless excuse, but it seemed the most plausible and believable at the moment. She would buy it.

The two of them stood there awkwardly even more. Bones was leaning his head against a shelf while Adie was staring at her feet and trying to imagine herself somewhere else. Both began to realize that they had somehow escalated the situation to new heights, and put an even bigger strain between the two of them. Neither one of them remembered how to speak to each other anymore without pushing the other away, and neither of them were going to take the chance to try.

Kirk's voice came up over the speakers, alerting everybody that they had arrived at Cardassia Prime. Adellia glanced up, looking sad and weathered in her eyes. "Captain Kirk will probably want you to accompany him, for moral support," she said, gently, and she looked back down. She began to walk away, when she felt a very familiar hand on her shoulder. She didn't exactly welcome the hand though.

"Adie, we'll figure this out at some point," Bones said, and walked past her. He didn't say much else…he assumed he'd be back on the ship within a normal amount of time, after all. Then maybe they could talk about this. Maybe.

Neither of them thought they would learn to talk to each other about things like this, and still neither of them were willing to take the chance to try and learn by trial and error. Adellia watched him go off, and let out a small sigh. This was unnecessarily frustrating.


	5. Chapter 5

**((A/N well hey there c: again, thank you so much for reading! i say this a lot so i feel like my gratitude my lose its meaning, but i mean it so much c: reviews would be quite loved on any of your thoughts. i own nothing but adie. thank you!))**

"We arrived here to attempt to negotiate peacefully, but this is out of the question," Spock said to one of the Cardassian ambassadors, looking mildly outraged at how ridiculous they were acting. Which was a big deal for Spock, really. He looked very seriously at the Cardassians in front of them, his eyebrows furrowed more than they were naturally.

He, Kirk, and Bones all three beamed down to speak with the ambassadors in an attempt to retrieve the captured and enslaved Earth tourists. They'd been down for hours at this point, discussing this and that, but nothing seemed to be working out whatsoever. If they weren't in disagreement about the stakes, the Cardassians were outraged about something else they'd. The negotiations, Kirk felt, were probably not going to be happening any time soon. It disappointed him that he couldn't save his own people from a planet as hellish as this one.

One of them leaned over and spoke a language nobody understood, before turning back to the three from the Enterprise who waited with bated breath. The Cardassian pursed his cracked, grey lips, taking in their weathered and frustrated looks. "We have decided that negotiations have been suspended. We will not negotiate with anybody from Earth. Your humans broke our laws, and they will be punished as such." He closed a book, and went to get up from the table, looking as regal as he had the entire time.

"By throwing them into slavery!" Kirk yelled, and Spock sighed, exasperated with his good friend. Kirk was understandably frustrated, though…idea after idea was tossed out by somebody, at all times, and they had been at it for hours. He pushed Spock off of him, and stood up from the table, pacing around. "You can't kidnap humans, and not expect us to try and get them back!" he continued, glaring at the Cardassians, who were about a head and a half taller than him. He still wasn't scared. Spock wondered if Kirk was afraid of _anything_.

"Jim…" Bones said softly, trying to get him to calm down. Bones hated to see his friend this upset, but he also didn't want him to go and embarrass himself in front of other species. He had a tendency of having a hot head, after all. Not that Bones could really talk, but now that he was the level-headed of the situation, he had to try and make things right. "Just take a couple breaths…"

"Captain Kirk, control yourself. A Starfleet captain should behave better than yourself," one of the ambassadors said, smirking. He was obviously enjoying this emotional outburst from the captain. It gave him a sick pleasure to know he had gotten to him like this. "We will ask you leave our planet immediately. Contact your men to beam you up. You have twenty Earth minutes before we will take action. And believe me, you do not want that."

Before Kirk could say anything else, Spock and Bones all but dragged him out of the room and out into one of the dusty and forgotten roads. As Spock called on Scotty, Bones turned to Kirk. "Sorry about that, Jim, but…it looks like we've done all we can for those poor bastards," he said, and shook his head, looking up. He could use a drink right about now. He'd been saying that a lot, though, he noticed.

"No, we haven't. We're getting them, Bones. I don't care what it takes."

----

The three of them were beamed up back to the ship. Kirk immediately went to the bridge to try and figure something out. He went through as many options as he could with anyone who would be willing to listen to him. He'd asked Scotty for about the third time if they could just beam the prisoners up, when obviously they couldn't, thanks to some barriers put up by the Cardassians. He paced around the bridge, trying to figure out another way. Kirk was not normally this passionate, but the idea of his fellow Earthlings being enslaved by that awful race got to him more than most things.

Adellia had been in the medical bay, and was now attending to Lieutenant Uhura for what she hoped would be the last time. "Well, Lieutenant, your blood pressure appears to be at a normal rate, for the first time." She began to go through the chart, smiling brightly for the first time in a long time. Uhura had become her friend throughout her stay her, so naturally Adellia was glad to see she was getting better. "It looks as if you have made a full recovery—"

"Is Spock okay?" she interrupted Adellia. Uhura sighed, desperately. "I'm sorry, I've just been worrying. You know how ruthless Cardassians can be, for no particular reason…did they come back?" she asked. Uhura looked anxious in her eyes, both to get out of the medical bay and to return to Spock. In fact, had Adellia given her the go-ahead, she could have sprung off the bed and right onto the bridge to welcome Spock back with open arms.

"They have all returned safely. Unfortunately, no negotiations were made for the safe return of the humans," she said, sadly. She looked down. "Which is just a shame…I shudder to think what they're going through right now, on that planet. Like you said, Cardassians are not by nature a fair peoples." Adellia frowned, looking a little sad, now. It sort of put her own situation into perspective, for a moment. There were worse things that could happen. _She_ could be stuck on Cardassia Prime. That would be just awful, wouldn't it? "Would you like me to alert Commander Spock that you would like to see him, when he is able to?"

"That would be nice, yeah, thank you," Uhura said politely, smiling. "You know, I won't tell anyone if you want to go meet Bones up at the bridge. If I were you, I would be right next to the pad," Uhura said gently, and Adellia frowned, concentrating on the chart in her hands. Maybe that was a mistake. Maybe she was avoiding Bones for a reason…but what could be bad enough for her to even avoid him after he came up from a planet like Cardassia Prime?

Uhura decided she would try and take a friendly route in this situation. She didn't have many female friends, if only because she ran with the boys a lot easier, but this stay in the medical bay left her liking Adellia. "You know, if you ever need to talk…" she offered, looking up and witnessing a small battle within Adellia's mind through her dark eyes. Uhura knew she was trying to figure out if she could trust herself to let this kind of information go.

She was wondering whether or not she should really tell Uhura what was happening. She and Bones were always such private people when it came to each other's business, but she would be foolish to think he hadn't up and told Kirk what was going on. And besides, Uhura was in a very similar situation. Adellia glanced down at Uhura, and sighed gently to herself, just preparing herself to let go of some uncomfortable truths. But this was what friends did, now, wasn't it?

"I am quite worried about what may happen if I tell Bones how I feel. I don't wish to scare him away, but we've both grown so apart…it's as if he doesn't want to move on, and try to be closer and more intimate with me." Adellia looked down at her feet, as if she were telling her boots all of these things she usually didn't like to talk about. "I do realize he has trust issues, and I am being patient with those, believe me. But I do wish he would trust me not to hurt him in the way his ex-wife did," she mumbled, and then sat down on the edge of Uhura's bed.

"But I don't want to push him away, either, and make him feel as if I'm rushing him into anything he's not ready to get into. I don't want to lose him under some silly misunderstanding. And I think he may feel the same way…I think he is a little nervous about being honest with me, for fear that I will grow impatient and try to end things so I can find somebody else. But honestly, that could not be farther from the truth."

Adellia glanced up at Uhura, who nodded gently, and she looked back down to her lap. "I think," she began, thinking about what she was saying for just a quick moment, "you should tell Bones everything you just told me."

"But what if he gets nervous around me, what if he…" she mumbled, and she sighed a little bit, looking back down to her lap just like Uhura.

"I doubt he would do that. He cares about you a lot, Adie…and you care about him a lot. I don't think he would get nervous enough to push you away, like you think. You just need to be the first one to make a move. You're both stuck in this awkward limbo." Uhura smirked, diving into the story of how she broke Spock's shell. "Spock and I were like that for a while, you know. I finally just sort of told him what I thought, because he's not exactly one to be honest about his feelings, know what I mean? So I told him what I was feeling, and he took it all in, dealt with it, and we haven't had an awkward limbo like that since," she said, looking more confident in her advice, now.

Adellia blinked. "Is that a fact?" she asked, and looked forward, thinking about this. "I think I can handle being honest about how I feel, for once. Of course, I've never lied to him, but I've never…really spoke my mind a lot," she explained, and began to say something else, when Bones walked in. Adellia shot up, looking as if she had just been checking over Uhura's vital signs. The panic was clear in her eyes, though. What was with this man that she could not find her poker face around him?

"Being discharged today?" he asked Uhura conversationally, smiling. Spock came up behind him, and pushed past to see Uhura eagerly. He embraced her without any reservations. He was comfortable with his relationship around Bones and Adie…they understood what it was like, after all.

Bones and Adellia both left them alone for the time being, but Uhura's words were still ringing in her head. She had to just…say what she was thinking, and have that be that. Right? She knew how not to argue (but had a strong feeling Bones did not), so she needed to keep that in mind. Adellia didn't usually leak into argument territory, because she hated herself afterwards when she did. It was unbecoming, and immature, in her mind. Still, his lack of self-control could be very irritating, and she did not wish to get into it with him.

"Leonard," Adellia said, stronger than she had intended. She almost sounded mean in the way had said it, and the way she was standing there, but she was just trying to be strong and heard. She had her arms crossed over her chest, one foot out to the side, and her eyes looking directly towards him.

He stopped and looked back at that. He rarely heard his real first name on this ship, so this was a surprise. He looked down at her, shocked at how…forceful she looked to him. She looked like she had some serious business to discuss right this moment, so he thought it wise to be all ears. "Yes, Adie?" he asked, and walked back up to her, expectantly and patiently.

Adellia looked angry with herself, now, even though it looked like it was aimed towards him. "Leonard," she said again, and she frowned, walking up to him. She was trying to get up the courage to speak some more, but she was having a lot of trouble with that. She started and stopped herself what felt like fifty times before Bones put his hands on her shoulders. Instantly she relaxed.

"Adie…what is it?" he asked, with a kind and patient smile down at her.

"I just…needed to tell you some things," she said. Now she was looking a bit scared, which he hated. He hated that she looked scared when she looked at him sometimes…was he really all that intimidating? He hated to think she could be this worried around him. It made him feel like some kind of weaker man, and even though he knew he wasn't trying to hurt her, he seemed to be hurting her. He couldn't get past that terrified look in her pretty eyes.

He calmed himself down, or tried to, just sort of focusing on her as best as he could. "And what is that, exactly?" he asked, and even smiled a little. "Adie, you know you can tell me anything you want. I'm not gonna get mad, or anything…so come on. Spit it out, already."

"Alright." She nodded. "I just wanted to say—"

But damn it all, Bones was not going to know at that instant, because at that moment the ship was being attacked. Kirk had forgotten about their twenty-minute rule in his passionate hate of this situation, and the Cardassian fleet was now trying to ward the Enterprise off from their orbit. The ground they stood on shook, but he held onto her, and that seemed to steady them both.

"Damnit…" Bones grumbled. "I'll be in the bridge. If you need support—"

"Just go," Adellia said quickly, and pulled away, readying supplies for the inevitable. She knew she came off sounding frustrated with him, but it was more this situation. They were always interrupted without fail. And to think…she'd almost gotten up the courage to say something.


	6. Chapter 6

**((A/N hey there c: i own nothing but adie. i wish i owned star trek, though. not gonna lie :c ))**

The ship was, once again, hurt bad enough to be sent to base. Kirk had been so upset by their attack that he was forced out of the room by Spock, and spent the rest of the day in his quarters. He had returned the following day, once they made it to the Starfleet base, and the rumor was that he and Spock had a fight about their next course of action. Kirk had asked they returned to Cardassia Prime, while Spock preferred the more "logical" approach, to go and find backup.

Naturally, the captain card was played, and Spock begrudgingly supported Kirk's illogical decision. After all, it had helped them once before, hadn't it? It was noted by most people that the two of them spent their part together. Spock had taken up to following Uhura, while Kirk floated around, charming the ladies and trying to ignore Spock at all costs.

The ship's damage had gotten bad enough that Kirk knew it would take them a week to a week and a half to completely fix the ship, and that was with the schedule he'd asked to put the engineers on. Breaks were few and far between, and a lot of the knowledgeable science crew had been employed to help out with the ship. The only people who seemed to be missing out of the action were the helmsmen and medical staff.

This was both a blessing a curse for Bones and Adellia. Neither of them knew how to fix anything, and would be completely lost in the midst of everything. After all, they were doctors, not engineers. Bones especially avoided that place, mostly because he didn't appreciate being shown up by some sixteen-year-old mechanical prodigy. Most of the medical staff seemed to be avoiding the repairs, save for those on the body.

The curse, however, was free time. Free time to think, worry, get angry, and be completely and utterly bored. Adellia was never bored, though—she always had something on her mind. In the first three days of their stay, she thought a lot about the situation the crew would be in if they were to sustain another attack. Everybody was tired, and with all that energy being put into the ship repairs, how were they going to fare when they were attacked again?

Once that worry died down, however, the second most troubling situation settled in. Neither she nor Bones spoke to the other over the course of three days, considering how their last conversation ended. It seemed Adellia had to build up more courage, and Bones was surely gathering up the patience and understanding he would need for this inevitable talk.

On the fourth day, however, enough was officially enough. Adellia sat in his quarters, on his bed, waiting for him to return after being with Kirk in the galley. Her feet sat flat on the floor, and her hands clenched the edge of his bed. She'd glanced around the room, but didn't go through his things. He was distrusting enough, he didn't need her to do that. She did, however, notice a few things.

On his bedside table was a bottle of whisky, which was no surprise to her. There were some old clothes lying around on the floor, and his bed was unmade. On his bulletin board, he had a picture of he and Captain Kirk while out on the town somewhere, a copy of his schedule for the week, and a picture of he and Adellia. That was the night they grabbed some barbecue, which was indeed some of the best barbecue she had ever had. His face was red thanks to a few beers, but his smile was wide and cheerful as he put his arm around her. Adellia's smile was small, like it normally was, but her eyes were lit up a lot more than they were now.

The room was messy, and cluttered. There were a lot of knick knacks sitting around, old letters from his parents and apparently one from his ex-wife. It took everything within her power not to read that letter, but she couldn't make herself. It was far too personal, after all, and she didn't want to intrude on his private things.

Adellia longed for the day when his private things would become open to her, however. She wondered when she would be allowed to browse those letters, look through his sock drawer, or explore his closet for old clothes he didn't fit into anymore. She knew her own things were not private to him…well, some of her things. Adellia was still a private person.

As she glanced around the room one more time, she realized this was a huge difference between them. Her room was organized, nothing to spare, her bed was made, and her floor was clear of clothes. Her bulletin board was full of Starfleet Protocol of all kinds, with only a very small picture of her mother, though that was pretty weathered and got lost among the Protocol. She had no alcohol next to her bed, but instead a stack of intergalactic medical journals.

She found herself staring at the whisky when both Bones and Kirk walked in. She looked up, her eyes going wide, and Kirk mumbled something before leaving. "Well, hey, there, Adie…" Bones mumbled, and he shut his door behind him, looking down at her. "Can I get you a…nevermind," he said, and smiled as he poured himself a drink. He sipped from it before sitting next to her, looking down.

"Hello, Bones," Adellia replied gently, and she smiled over to him. "How have you been? I haven't seen you in a little. Of course, I've been pretty busy, organizing things and…" she sighed, and turned back to him expectantly.

"Me? I've been busy, too. Going through old files, trying to…organize, too," he said, angry that she'd taken the best excuse. He took another sip from his glass. "About how we sort of left off…" he sighed. "What were you going to say? And don't…pull that scared thing around me, please, Adie," he said, looking down at his feet and concentrating.

"I was going to tell you that I'm worried about…us," Adellia began. Well, here went nothing. "I'm worried about how distant we are, and how we…how we sort of don't talk like a couple should talk. It's as if we're friends, which is fine, I wouldn't be too…hurt…but…" she sighed, and she stared down at her lap. "I know you're worried about me hurting you, since what happened with your ex-wife, and I…I understand that. And I understand that no matter how many times I tell you I would never, ever hurt you like that, you probably wouldn't believe me."

Bones looked like he was going to say something when Adellia interrupted him. She was on a roll, now, there was no stopping her. "And the only reason I am…worried, about you being angry with me, is because I don't want to lose you. You're quite possibly…" she sighed, and began to talk a little louder. She was almost yelling, now. "Quite possibly one of the best things to happen to me, you know, and I don't want to push you away with all of my…feelings. Feelings are something I'm not really used to expressing, and so I thank you for your patience and…understanding, hopefully."

Adellia looked down. "There. That's what's been on my mind for the past…for a while, anyway." Saying all of that was excruciating for her, in all honesty. She was surprised at herself when she heard all of the things she'd just said…had she really said all of that? It was a big gamble she was taking. After all, what if Bones just didn't like what he heard? What if it was more complicated than this?

Bones let out a long sigh, and he took a sip. "Whew, girl, that was downright dizzying," he half-joked, and he looked back over to her. "Well…I can tell you one thing. You're absolutely wrong."

She looked up to him, and she frowned. "Wrong about what?"

"Wrong about Samantha being the reason. All of the reason, anyway. What happened is a small part of the reason, but…it may as well not even be the reason," he said, and he set down his drink to look at her head on. There was no awkward in the air, he noticed, but instead he felt a little dizzy and anxious. Everything was about to be out in the open, and he wasn't sure how she was even handling this.

Both of them were having trouble understanding the other at this point. Adellia was still stuck in a state of shock, while Bones was still nervous to get even deeper, which obviously he would now have to do. He grimaced before continuing, but he knew that he had to. She'd opened the barn door, and the horses were going to have to run out now.

"I'm not much of a talker, either, you know that. But, with this, it's more of…what I don't want to happen to you. It's not that I don't trust you, because…well, I know you wouldn't hurt a fly." Bones winced. "It's you I worry about getting hurt in this…situation." He took another drink, and set it down for good, not wanting anymore. Just in case.

Adellia blinked. "But if you've already predisposed that you will most likely hurt me…" she began.

"No, hey, listen. It's not that. It's not. It's just that…I dunno. I'm not the best of men. Especially for someone like you." He rubbed the back of his neck. And then he kind of knew what she was thinking. Her face went stone solid, like she had slipped back into some sort of Vulcan mindset. He blinked. "You know what I mean…?"

Adellia looked down, now officially frustrated. "That is…"

"Don't say it."

"…really illogical," she said, and she frowned at him. "I am not going to lie and pretend I'm not a little irritated." Adellia got up, and looked down at him. "I appreciate your concern for me, but if you did not think you were good for me, then why did you bother? Why did I bother? Why did you allow me to get this deep when you already knew you would throw it away?" she asked, shakily, and she looked down at him with a heartbreaking expression. He didn't even try to respond. "I do not understand why, when you had this preconceived notion you were going to mess it up, you and I even bothered in the first place."

And with that, Adellia left. She walked out and saw Kirk to her left, apparently waiting to come in. She glared at him, and he blinked, looking down. When she walked off, Kirk walked in to see Bones with a full glass of whisky, and he sighed. This was going to be a difficult conversation.

"I suppose you heard it all, didn't you?" Bones asked, looking bitterer than the first time Kirk ever saw him.

"What I did not hear was a breakup, so…that's good, isn't it?" Kirk offered, and he sat next to his friend, who looked away. "I mean, you two will figure it out. You're meant for each other…I haven't seen you this happy in—"

"I _was_ happy, Jim, until this whole thing got fucked up," he snapped. When he cursed, he slammed his glass down on the table, and the dark liquid sloshed out onto the bedside table. "It was me. I ruined it, like I always do. I ruined it by telling her that I ruin it, I mean, how's that for some goddamn irony?"

While Kirk was trying to decide if that was irony or not, Bones took another drink, and glared at absolutely nothing. He decided right then and there and he should have told her that she was one of the best things to happen to him, too.


	7. Chapter 7

**((A/N hi! i own nothing but adellia D: keep the reviews coming, please! i love them so :3))**

The next week was tense. For a week, neither one of them said a word to each other. It was very obvious Adellia was no longer angry after the second day, but both of them seemed to be so ashamed of themselves that facing each other was not an option. Bones made sure to schedule the two of them separate, with him taking the night shift and her taking the day shift. He knew she would prefer the day shift, even if there was technically no sun. At meals, Adellia sat with Uhura, while Bones sat with the others. Neither of them talked about the other, and any attempt to bring it up was immediately deflected.

Kirk had been trying to get Bones to talk for that entire week. By now, many people had heard about it. Both of them hated the little looks they got, for both of them were deeply private people. Everybody knew who Bones was, of course (most referred to him as the "loud-mouthed doctor who sometimes curses at you"), and they assumed there was only one Vulcan on the medical team, which was very true. Needless to say, it didn't take long for people to notice who they were, and why people were talking about them. It was interesting gossip, fueled by their never being together.

There was one thing Bones could not schedule, and that was check-up day. Check-up day was probably the worst day Bones could endure, but all of the other doctors thought it would be funny to leave two spaces right next to each other, perfect for both him and Adellia. He rolled his eyes and walked over to his table, glaring at each person to both of his sides, until Adellia walked up.

Bones looked sick most of the time, but when she was around, it seemed to get worse. His eyes drooped a little as he looked forward, and the nurses began to bring people in. When he glanced over to her, he found she was looking just as sick and worried as he was. He hated that she was upset over this. He couldn't help but wonder what her life had been like if he had just made that awkward moment stay an awkward moment, and never have kissed her. He knew she would be happier, probably with some lovely Vulcan, or…whoever she wanted, really. And then he remembered who she obviously wanted. Why the hell did she even want him in the first place?

Adellia was thinking along the same lines. If she hadn't kissed back, he could be with anyone else—not the shrew she thought she was. He could even have multiple partners, and she really and truly would not judge him. He didn't seem the type, underneath the smell of whisky, but she never knew what life would have been like had she not kissed back. Of one thing she was sure: She would have been much less popular among the staff.

The Cadets were to come in first. They walked in, single-file, and sat down at each table. Adellia moved forward, pulling her gloves on as she waved a tricorder over her cadet, taking him and his stats in. She pulled up his file, and sighed. "It says here you have a history of diabetes. How often are you taking your blood sugar?"

She barely listened to his answer, though she wrote it down automatically. All she could think about was standing right next to him like she was, and not being able to talk to him. Her hands moved up to feel under his chin, and she stared forward, doing all of this very automatically. He was too close for her comfort. Was there no other available table? She tried to go through what the medical bay looked like when she walked in. No, no other available tables.

She was done with her first cadet, and she scanned him to bring up his file. She repeated the process over and over again, until she heard a voice that pulled her out of her funk. "Ooh, hello, Dr. Adellia! It is nice to be seeing you again!" She looked up to see the voice belonged to Ensign Pavel Chekov, and she wondered when they got to his level. Did she really hit the snooze button through all of the cadets? She hoped no crucial mistakes were made. This was far too distracting for anybody's good.

"It's nice to see you, too, Ensign Chekov. Been taking care of yourself?" she asked, and waved her tricorder before downloading the results into his chart. Even with the chipper Chekov in front of her, she was still acting on autopilot so to speak. She forced on a smile for his sake as she went through the steps.

"Ooh, yes, wery much so. An apple a day keeps the doctor at a distance! Zough, I vould not mind seeing you ewry once een a vhile, so I may just skip my apple some days," he said with a small laugh. He was obviously just being polite, but that certainly caught Bones' attention a little bit. He didn't exactly like what he was hearing out of him, to be honest.

Adellia chuckled. "Well, I'm flattered, but I like you enough to never want to see you in here," she said softly, and she began to feel under his jaw, frowning. "Some inflammation…do you have an infection? Your temperature's normal…" she mumbled, and she sighed a little bit. Chekov would have some inflammation. Or was this normal?

"My throat haz been feeling just a leettle bit sore," he admitted, and looked back over to her. "Perhaps we could be seeing each other in ze galley sometimes, I would enjoy zat greatly," he continued, and smiled a little bit as she chuckled, but continued to perform some checks.

"Hm…could just be that we're in a ship…a sore throat can be common on a ship, because it's so enclosed…" she mumbled, feeling Bones' eyes on the two of them every once in a while. This irritated her a bit to think he was observing her, like she was still some sort of rat in a cage. Perhaps he wasn't trying to make her feel that way, though, she…ooh, she didn't know what she felt anymore…

"I have heard zis, of course, of course," he mumbled, and he looked back up to her, smiling a little sheepishly. "Zank you for taking such good care of me, I greatly appreciate it. I hope my doctor iz this pretty and nice on ze next check-up day—"

"Alright, alright, I've heard about all I care to hear," Bones finally said, and he ignored the engineering woman that popped up next when he turned to him. He rounded on the shrinking Chekov, his finger pointing right in his face dangerously. "You watch it, alright, you little commy—"

"Dr. McCoy!" Adellia snapped, but in her effort to avoid a scene, she managed to create one. So after staring at him for a moment she sighed, and allowed a very confused Chekov to walk off, with his clean bill of health. After her next patient came up, Adellia began to speak to him in a calm voice. "I don't know you think you are—"

"He was being a little twit, I was sick of it, he's such a little—"

"I'm taking my ten minute break," Adellia said, and she finished checking out the nervous man in front of her as quickly as she possibly could. She walked away from the table and left the medical wing, absolutely full of rage that he had the nerve to just…

She walked through the corridors to her quarters, but on the way, the ship rocked a little bit. Adellia stopped, and in one exhausting moment, her anger turned to worry. An announcement for all personnel to return to their posts was turned on, though the fact that it was the automated one rather than Kirk's voice made her blood run cold. He was too busy to make the announcement himself, it seemed. Adellia turned around and ran towards the medical bay as the red alert sounded, and she knew everybody but _her_ on this ship was doing their ship. And that killed her.

They worked for what felt like hours, when the unthinkable happened. The bumps against the ship stopped so suddenly, that the silence the followed was absolutely bone-chilling. Every doctor in the medical bay worked in silence, trying to ignore the sounds of tricorders, hyposprays and heart monitors bleeping and blooping throughout the place.

That silent was interrupted with Kirk's shaky voice:

"Ladies and gentleman." A pause. "We are being boarded, by a fleet of Cardassian ships. In an attempt to retrieve the human prisoners, they ambushed us. We fought hard…we all fought hard. And I want to congratulate every single one of you on a job well done. They have promised they will followed the Intergalactic Geneva Convention guidelines for…prisoners being captured." One more pause. "Everybody will report to the shuttle room, where they will be taking us to their ship. This is not the end for anybody, or anything. This is a hiccup. Kirk out."

Bones looked up from a patient, and he began to yell for the nurses and doctors to prepare the medical shuttles for all the most critical patients. This entire situation was a headache, and even though all he wanted to do was to walk with Adellia to the shuttles, he knew very well that would not be an option at all. His first order was to watch over these patients, not make sure she had a hand to hold.

After she was done securing her last patient, she sat down in her shuttle, looking down at the ground. Her eyes were wide, and her face was so pale, she had a greener tint to her than usual. All around her body were green bruises, and her hair was an absolute mess, but none of that seemed to matter. She could honestly only think about one thing, and that was how her friends were doing. How Bones was doing.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up. She expected to see Bones. She prayed it would be Bones. But above her stood the equally green-bruised Spock. After a moment he sat down across from her, buckled up, and looked forward. The two of them looked at each other with a small, longing sigh. He wished she was Nyota, and she wished he was Bones.

"We will see them another time. Of this I am certain," Spock said, softly.

"Certain?" she asked, and they took off with another word to each other. Nobody was certain.

Back in Bones' ship, which he happened to share with Chekov (naturally), he stared forward. He wasn't paying attention to the little Russian's scared glanced over towards him, he wasn't paying attention to the God-awful language the Cardassian in the front was speaking. All he wanted to know was how Jim was, how Adellia was, and maybe—just maybe—a little bit how Spock was.

When they took off, he grabbed on the armrests and closed his eyes. When he did, he heard that quiet song Adellia sang to him on the way to the Enterprise, and he felt a little better. But he would have been much more at ease if he could have heard it from her lips, and felt her hand in his.


	8. Chapter 8

**((A/N hallo! here ya go, chapter eight c: i own nothing. but i own adie. and these random cardassians, i suppose, lmfao. enjoy! more reviewing, i love it c: thank you for reading!))**

As soon as they landed, the Cardassian came back to the shuttle, and put a hood over both Spock and Adellia's heads. They were shoved out of the shuttle, and the alien held onto the Vulcans as they were processed past a checkpoint. After a while of walking, they were both stopped suddenly and asked in what department they worked in. Adellia answered swiftly and with no emotion, and was immediately separated from Spock, though she vaguely heard him saying that he worked in communications. A smirk crossed her lips. Good for him.

She was brought over about one hundred feet, and stopped suddenly. She assumed, based on the familiar voices, that she had been placed with her medical crew. She wondered if Bones had arrived yet, though there was no way to tell, since they'd managed to tie her hands together on the walk over towards the medical crew. She closed her eyes from behind the mask, taking in a deep breath, and sighing softly.

Adellia knew she had to stay calm and void of as much emotion as she could through this ordeal. However long it took, however bad the conditions were, they couldn't know how much it affected her. For the first time since she'd met Bones, she was purposely trying to act a part. It came easily to her, and that kind of scared her.

After what felt like years, she was finally moved. The Cardassian grabbing onto her arm was being a bit rough, especially after what she'd been through with the ship being attacked, but she showed no emotion on her face. She was proud of herself, on the inside, of being so diligent and stoic at the same time. She found the less emotional she acted, the less she noticed around her. She felt the body heat around her disappear as soon as they began to walk, letting her know she was somewhere in the back or front of the group.

After a little bit of walking, she felt a very familiar voice up ahead of her. "Damnit, get your lizard-looking hands off of—" Bones stopped, and she heard someone falling to the floor. Bones winced, standing up shakily after being shocked, looking angry from underneath his own mask. "A cattle prodder? Ooh, that's original…" he grumbled, and he continued to walk. He wished he could see. He wished he did not have to be led like a child. But above all, and most importantly, he wished he had a drink.

After he continued to walk, though, his mind focused back to Adellia. He remembered what had happened right before they were separated, and he was mentally kicking himself. He just couldn't stop making the wrong decision, it seemed. He knew she knew that she overreacted, however, to that little blip who kept getting onto her. He stumbled a little, and he was held up straight by an impatient Cardassian.

In an instant, it was hot, and he could feel the wind against his stubbly face. The wind, too, was hot…this planet felt like a desert, as if there was nothing around for miles. He grimaced as he continued forward, his eyes open from behind the mask on his head. After a few hundred feet of walking, stumbling over sidewalks and hearing their strange language dancing in his ear, he heard a heavy door opening. He looked around curiously before he was shoved into the room.

The room he was shoved into was even hotter than what it was like outside, and he couldn't help but think that this was probably where they would be staying, Sure enough, as soon as he had this mask taken off, he saw what looked curiously like a human's average dog kennel. Small cells lined a wall, with bars and everything.

"I'm assuming you don't get room service—" Bones began, when he was shoved into his own cell unceremoniously. He looked around at his staff before glaring back at the Cardassians, but since his door was now closed, there wasn't a lot else he could do to let them know how much he hated them. Not that they really seemed to care.

Adellia caught on quick. When she saw Bones for that brief moment, she knew what she had to do. She eased up in front of the line swiftly, and despite the Cardassian's confused, was given a cell directly next to him as a result. She stood up, and glanced over to the cell next to her. Adellia's grin could not have been wider when she saw him, and she went to put her hands on the bars, when she was shocked by the apparent electricity on the bars.

He glanced over when he heard her yip, and he couldn't hide his grin. "Hello there, pretty lady. Come here often?" he joked, but his grin soon faded into a hard expression, despite her smile. "I tried to get into your shuttle, but you already took off. Remind me to never fly without you again…I forgot how much I hated everything about it," he said with a small nod, and he sat down on the ground.

The cells would look nice, if someone took care of them. There was nothing but a floor, of course, and obviously the bars were electric. A small fan blew in the corner of their cell, but it reached only a one-foot by one-foot area, and she didn't want to stand over there anyway. Lights hung above each cell, which were presumably turned on during the evening, and probably in the mornings.

"I'm sorry. I was joined by Spock. I think they wanted to put us together, for some reason."

"It could be because you were both Vulcan."

"Possibly, but then why did they split us up by section afterwards?" she asked, and she looked over to him, longingly. It was obvious neither one of them cared why she was in that shuttle and Bones was stuck with the Russian—that mystery just did not need to be solved right now. He glanced up at Adellia's look, and he offered a nod in place of what she really wanted.

She just wanted a hug. Adellia would have traded the moon for a hug from him, because when she hugged him, she felt safe. She grimaced at the sheer injustice, and looked back down to her feet.

"I'm sorry I overreacted," she mumbled, her voice even more quiet than usual, now. "I was stressed, and worried, and everything I usually am on top of being upset. I did not mean to yell at you like I did," she mumbled, gazing up at him after a moment.

He just sort of nodded, and looked forward. "I know you didn't, don't worry."

The two of them stood there, and both of them wondered why—despite the fact they were in what felt like a POW camp—they managed to have an awkward moment. Bones finally glanced up. "You should get some shut eye, Adie. Who knows what they'll be having us doing by tomorrow." And with that, he leaned against a corner of the cell, as close to the fan as he could get, and closed his eyes.

----

The following morning, the Cardassians woke the doctors and nurses up about two hours after Adellia finally managed to get some sleep. She felt a harsh kick in her side, and she looked up, immediately putting on her stoic face as soon as she saw the lizard-man looking back down at her. She got up and lined up just as they wanted, and the bags came back onto their heads. She jumped as she felt a familiar hand holding hers for a moment, but enjoyed it for as long as she possibly could.

Adellia tried not to imagine what would be waiting for them after they left their holding cells. She knew what it probably would be, but…this can't have been the end. Besides, didn't they swear to uphold the Intergalactic Geneva Convention Code? She was sure that's what Kirk had said.

Bones winced as he felt the wind hit his face again. He began to walk on the uneven sidewalk. The Cardassians seemed to get a kick out him stumbling every few feet, which made him angry, but something about seeing Adellia's emotionless face before they left the cells gave him some strength. He didn't know if that sort of thing was genetic or if she had truly taught herself to remain in control, but he knew that if she could do it, then damnit, so could he.

They stopped after what seemed about a half of a mile. Bones looked around, trying to see through his mask, when suddenly it was taken off of his head. He honestly expected to see a guillotine or some other awful killing device, and was taken aback when he saw a large red cross on top of the building. A hospital? His shoulders relaxed a little bit, and he looked around. Adellia was standing right next to him, looking just as relieved as he felt for one split second.

The Cardassians led them into the hospital, and into a rickety old elevator that fit only half of them at once. Adellia took this opportunity to grab Bones' hand once more, but her face never moved from that concentrated look. He took a leaf from her book and frowned, concentrated, but his thumb caressed her hand for the briefest of moments.

When the grey doors shot open, they were brought to what would appear to be an intensive care center. It was a little abandoned looking, much like their cells, and no one else was there save for their little group. The beds were nothing like what they had on the Enterprise; Adellia thought she might have stepped into the twenty first century, by the way this room looked.

The Cardassians lined them up again. "Who is the Chief Medical Officer?" Bones stepped up bravely at that. "Your orders, until you leave this planet, will be to look after our Cardassian soldiers. We will begin by sending them in for physicals, and you will be required to go by our guidelines—not the Federation's." Bones nodded, tersely, and the other continued on. "Your medical supply closet is located to your right. You will go nowhere without asking for permission, and stating your reason. New orders will be given when you are finished with looking over the soldiers." In other words, they probably wouldn't be alive for new orders.

It was surprisingly similar to how they performed physicals on the Enterprise. They all lined up—and this time, Bones and Adellia chose to be next to each other—and were given a table and very limited medical supplies to use.

Soldier after soldier marched in, each one smelling different but just as rank as the last. The hospital room had absolutely no fans, and they'd had to watch two of their co-workers pass out from the heat and exhaustion. What happened to them, Bones and Adellia weren't sure, but they certainly did not come back.

They worked from day to night, and even a little bit more than that. Finally, however, as Adellia's eyes began to force themselves shut, they were ordered to return to their cells. They were lined up, masked, and marched back to the cells. She found that she actually began to miss the cells a little bit…at least she was able to sit down, and whisper to Bones.

As they waited to go into the cells, Adellia touched Bones' hand. In retrospect, doing this with a mask on was a stupid idea to begin with, because it would inevitably lead to somebody hurting them. She felt a blunt object on her temple, and was nearly knocked out onto the hot, unforgiving ground, but another Cardassian caught her. When her mask was taken off, she looked over to Bones, who winced. He could see the bruise already forming on the side of her head, and he hated that he could do anything about it.

----

For three days this process continued. On the third day, Adellia nearly collapsed in her cell when she came back after a day of working. They'd lost many nurses and a few doctors to heat or exhaustion—or both—because of how little they were fed and allowed to drink water. She leaned as closed to the bars as she could without touching it. The bruise on her temple was now a very dark and unfortunate-looking shade of green. The blue dress she wore was dirty, and her insignia had fallen off days ago. Her feet had blisters from the boots, and her hair hung by the side of her head, stringy.

Bones' pants wore torn on the bottom, and his shirt had been modified to allow his arms to breath. His own hair was constantly messed up, and he had a good three days of dark growth on his chin, up to his ears, and down his neck a little bit. Both of their faces were constantly sweaty, and their eyes were always begging to be closed.

He glanced over to her, through the bars. "I saw Jim today," he croaked out, nodding. "In the mess hall. He sent me a message with his potatoes saying most people were still all right, but they had killed a few. No news from Starfleet." He looked sadly to her. Would they ever get news from Starfleet? Did they not notice where they were, or how they never responded?

Adellia just sort of nodded at the news. She wasn't surprised, but at the same time, she was quite let-down by it. She thought maybe Kirk had heard good news, but…she doubted that he would ever heard good news. "At least most everybody is still okay," she mumbled, shivering a little bit throughout her body.

"When we get off this god-forsaken planet…well, first of all, I'm getting a drink. And hell, so are you. But second of all…" Bones sighed, preparing himself to say this, even if he did mean it from the bottom of his heart. He would always be uncomfortable. "Second of all, things will be different. I'm not going to act like a standoffish dick anymore. I'm doing it up right."

Adellia smiled to herself. "That would be most appreciated. I promise I won't be as sensitive as I have been lately, and I will try not to take things to my heart so much." His response was a grunt, but she knew he was listening, and that he appreciated it. "Bones," she said gently, her voice very shaky as she did.

"Yeah?" he asked, his voice quiet but strong, for her.

"I miss you."

"I miss you, too, darling."


	9. Chapter 9

**((A/N hallo thar! i'm so grateful for all the reviewers, seriously...yall telling me what you think makes this all pretty worthwhile c: teehee. i own none of this except for adie. hope yall enjoy this next chapter!))**

The fourth night had finally come. Adellia sat in the mess hall, staring down at the food—if you could call it that—in front of her. She looked exhausted in her entire body. Her movements were deliberately slow, though…the last thing that Adellia wanted was any kind of attention from anybody. The dust from the ground was starting to get in her stringy black hair, but she honestly did not mind whatsoever. The dust was the last thing on her mind at that moment. The room around her was silent—only the sounds of clicking silverware could be heard.

The room was a dark grey color, and held everybody from the Enterprise in his or her own sections. Naturally, Adellia sat next to Bones, who was looking even more exhausted as he sat there. He was staring forward, trying to force himself to eat. He took a couple of bites of the green mush, wincing as the disgusting paste wormed its way down his esophogus. "What is this shit…" he said, softer than he'd ever spoken before, and he glanced over to Adellia. "You need to eat something."

"I know," she mumbled, a little sadly. Adellia didn't want to eat this awful stuff. She looked down at her own pile of green mush, staring at it blankly for a moment before she finally took a small bite. She chewed slowly, and forced herself to take another bite, her stomach turning. "This is the worst stuff I have ever tasted," she said gently, and she looked back over to Bones. "We have to get out of here. We have to."

"Well, I agree, but…unless you have a ship in your dress, and a pilot, I don't think that's entirely possible," he mumbled, and forced himself to take another bite. He knew this food was disgusting, but he'd seen what happened to those who refused to eat it. They collapsed, from the heat and exhaustion. They were doctors, too, so surely they would have known what would happen to their bodies. But then, maybe that was the point…maybe they did it to get out of working. He frowned at the thought…Bones didn't see himself taking the coward's way out like that.

Adellia looked down, frowning a little bit while she tried not to throw up right then and there. She reached for her water when the whistle was blown. When the whistle was blown, she knew she had to get up and put her hands behind her, away from the table. "I never got to drink any water," she whispered, and Bones frowned, looking concerned, now.

When a Cardassian came over to tie her hands up, Bones looked over to him. "Hey, fellow, look…" he winced when the Cardassian glared at him. "She didn't get to have any water. She's going to need a couple of sips to get by." The alien wasn't listening to him, though, which enraged him. "Look at me, you overgrown lizard. Either you're going to lose one of the best doctors you stole from Starfleet, or you're going to let her have some damn water!" he growled, loudly.

"Bones—" Adellia began, and she looked down when a few Cardassians proceeded to gang up on him, and beat some sense into him like it was some kind of fun game for them. Her section was taken back to the cells without him, which led her into full-blown panic mode.

What if he was hurt bad enough? What if he was killed? They could easily hurt him, all of them, in his state. She stood in her cell, looking out of it as much as she possibly could have, her eyes going wide. For ten minutes he didn't return, and she was almost at the end of her rope. Tears gathered in her eyes for the first time in years and years at the thought of what might have happened to him.

After five minutes of her tearing, he was finally brought back to the cells. His nose and lips were bleeding, and his eyes were more hooded than before. There were rips and tears in his shirt, pants. When he looked over to her, she noticed his mouth must have been bleeding. Adellia winced a little bit. "You shouldn't…" she began, but she let it go. It happened, and there was no energy to bicker over it. Adellia got as close to the bars she could, sniffling.

"Hey, come on, Adie…" he mumbled, looking down at her…crying. He stared at her, grimacing at those tears. He knew she had to be hurting if this was driving her to cry. He watched her back up from the bars, curl herself up, and finally let herself go.

To him, this was absolutely startling to see her break down like this. Somewhere in his mind he knew Vulcans had very deep emotions, and this confirmed it. It was finally coming out in the form of quiet but hard sobs into her hands. Her body shook and her face turned a bright shade of green in her efforts to contain the violent wave of emotion that overtook her.

Bones didn't say anything at all, but he watched her. Somehow he knew she wouldn't want him to say anything about what she was going through. He watched as her quiet sobs got even louder, and after that, her fist slammed violently into the wall. He winced when he heard a small crack, but he hoped it would just one of her knuckles popping, and not a broken finger.

She wound down, slowly and over a number of minutes, and leaned against the wall. He noticed her cradling her hand in her other hand, so it had to be hurt. He watched her fall asleep, and knew it would be safe for him to fall asleep, now that she had finally calmed herself down. He leaned his own head against the wall, trying to ignore the need to cry himself. It just dawned on him how much she just went through, and how little he could have possibly done for her. And that killed him inside, knowing how absolutely useless he was.

----

"Bones."

Snore.

"Bones!"

Two snores.

"Leonard McCoy."

He awoke with a start, looking around. He saw Adellia's face in the vague light emitted from the electrical bars, and he frowned a little bit. He looked up, glancing towards the guard who seemed to be fast asleep, before he turned back to Adellia. "What is it, Adie? We need to get our shut eye so we can glance over the army of reeking—"

"Okay, okay, listen, I have a plan," she said, interrupting his smooth southern dialect. He frowned, scooting over closer to her. "Tomorrow, one of us will say that we have a sick Cardassian. We'll convince them—somehow—that he has a very rare strain of some sickness only passed between Cardassians, and…Klingons, to make it believable. So with the other one's help, we'll transfer him to a safe ward. But on the way, we'll knock the Cardassian out and use him communicator, to try and get a signal out to anyone listening," she said, quickly, looking back over to him. She had an eager face that would rival Chekov's. "It's foolproof, we just have to play it off as best as we possibly can."

Bones looked at her. "Well, that's either the craziest or most brilliant idea I've ever heard…but, Adie, what if one of us gets hurt? They're bound to hear the transmition …" he mumbled.

"I would rather get hurt a little more and get a message out, though. And if they do hurt one of us bad enough…if they do hurt _me_ bad enough…"

"No." Bones' voice was deep, gruff, and strong as he said that. "It won't be you, I won't allow it."

"Allow it?" Adellia mumbled, and she rolled her eyes a little bit, pushing back some of her unwashed hair. His chivalry was beginning to get on her able-bodied nerves, now. "Bones, I will do it. You've already taken a lot of punches on my behalf, I'm not going to ask any more from you." She looked very serious when she said this, of course.

"You don't have to ask me. I meant what I told you, I'll be there for you, I'll take it for you," Bones said, now facing her head on. "I won't let you…martyr yourself, just because you need to take care of people." He didn't want to think about them hurting her, it just enraged him to think about. "I'm doing it."

Adellia frowned at him, but she sighed. "Alright. Tomorrow, at approximately eleven o'clock in the morning, I will announce that my patient is ill and needs to be isolated immediately," she mumbled, and she smiled softly. "Goodnight, Bones."

"Alright. Night, Adie."

----

The following day, as eleven approached, Adellia was taking great care to make up symptoms to what she'd dubbed Influenza Cardassia. She had a feeling those around them would believe her, considering their level of intelligence, so she felt secure that her symptoms about this fake disease. She stood up where she'd been standing up, waving her slightly faulty tricorder around the Cardassian's head.

She checked him out, and when the next one arrived, Adellia gave Bones a very quick and pointed glance. She hit a few buttons on the tricorder and it began to beep alarmingly all of a sudden. A few of the doctors glanced over, looking at Adellia like she had won the lottery. She focused down on the device, moving past screens and then gasping convincingly.

"Sir!" she called, very realistically, and one of the Cardassian guards walked forward slowly. "Sir, this gentleman needs to be isolated immediately away from the others. It is my medical opinion that he is suffering from Influenza Cardassia--a very rare and dangerous strain of the flu--that effects Cardassians and Klingons exclusively. I need to transfer him to the nearest room other than this…perhaps the floor above this."

The Cardassian guard backed up, looking at the solider skeptically. "What'll happen if someone catches it?"

Bones intercepted, then. "The symptoms from IC are uncomfortable and deadly. Cornea infections, gangrene, and erosion of the lungs are just some of the more serious symptoms. As Chief Medical Officer, I implore you to allow me to accompany this soldier with the help of Dr. Adellia to safety," he said, with a little bit of his old commanding edge he had on the Enterprise.

The guard narrowed his eyes. "Someone will be accompanying you…"

"Then they, too, will get IC," Adellia said, looking very seriously up at the alien. "It's the most contagious strain of influenza discovered so far in the charted reaches of the universe."

At that, he allowed them to go, getting a stretcher wheeled out for them. As Adellia straightened him up on the stretcher, Bones put a hypospray to his neck in order to sedate him, and in moments he was clearly knocked out. Neither one of them said a word as they went into the old elevator, up the elevator, or until they were on the next floor up. Just in case.

"Gangrene?" Adellia asked with a small, tired smirk, and she slipped the communicator off of the Cardassian's person, holding it behind her back as Bones began to search for it.

"Yes, gangrene, sounded nasty enough…where is this—" he stopped, and looked up to him, seeing her turning on the communicator and setting it to an emergency channel. "Adie, stop it!" Bones asked, desperately.

"This is Doctor Adellia, crewmember of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, we've been captured on the planet Cardassia Prime while en route to negotiate the peaceful release of human tourists taken prisoner as well. If any ship, Federation or otherwise, is out there and is receiving this transmition, I implore you to contact the nearest Starfleet base and alert them of our position. Unknown number of casualties thus far, but it appears most of us are still alive. Thank you."

She closed the transmitter with a satisfied little smile across her cracked lips. Bones walked up to her, grabbing her by the shoulders and growling, but not as violently as anyone else would have expected. "What were you thinking? You know they'll know exactly where to find you now, don't you?" he asked, and he let go of her, looking distraught.

"They would've done the same thing to you…"

"But they wouldn't have done it to you."

The two of them stood there, realizing that the first moment alone they'd had was spent arguing about who would take the brutal punishment. After a moment, Bones' arms wrapped around her, and he closed his eyes. She allowed him to embrace her, and even returned the favor. They hugged for what seemed like centuries until finally Bones pulled apart, and pecked her on the lips just once.

"Darling…" he began, and he sighed, rolling his eyes. He kept his arms around her neck, looking down at her with an incredulous kind of look. "I hope you know what you got yourself into."

"Me too."

----

That night, it seemed as if nothing had changed. There was absolutely no word from Starfleet…and absolutely no word from the Cardassians, either. Bones and Adellia sat down near the bars, talking idly. All of a sudden the door to the cells swung open, and the Cardassians went straight for both Adellia and Bones' cells. They looked quite angry, but then, they usually did.

She tensed as they opened the door to her cell and grabbed her, pulling her out along with Bones. As they were being dragged out of the cells, she looked over to Bones. "I didn't mean for this to be you, too—" But her sentence was interrupted with a hit to the head, leaving her slightly limp as he dragged her.

Bones gaped, seeing her feet dragging the ground, barely moving. It took everything within his power to not knock out the Cardassian holding him (or try to, rather). He heard her voice in the back of his head asking him to remain calm, even though they were probably on their way to the slaughterhouse.


	10. Chapter 10

**((A/N hallo there c: second to last chapter. boo. i own nothing but adie. and the rude cardassians i guess, lmao. enjoy! review! be awesome!))**

Bones was thrown onto a chair roughly. He was in a separate room from Adellia, who had been dragged off somewhere else. The room was small, and dark, and the only light was a hanging overhead one. He was reminded of old cop shows; they would sit the suspect down at a table and interrogate them under a "stressful" situation by darkening the room with no windows. He knew he'd been in more stressful situations than this before, though. He looked up at the two Cardassians who were chatting away quickly in their own language, leaving him even more irritated. He looked down to his lap, frowning, looking very concentrated.

Finally, one of them acknowledged Bones. "I can see your new treatment has not been kind to your weak human body," he mumbled, and got no response out of Bones. This surprised him, but he didn't make it known to Bones whatsoever. "Have we caused you stress? Have we made your life hell?" he asked, and once more, received no answer. "Hm. Funny, you seemed willing to talk before, when you were brought onto our planet. According to your record, you had a few choice words."

Still no response came from his mouth. About a million responses formed in his brain and went straight to his lips, but he forced them to stay back in his mouth. The only real clue he would give them to how he felt were a pair of clenched fists. He frowned, staring at his lap with his dirty, sweaty hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning a violent shade of white. His eyes were growing wider, too, as he felt the Cardassian walked closer. The alien bent down right into his face, as if he was begging Bones to just clock him.

"We know you and your Vulcan friend sent the transmition," he started, looked up. Suddenly the lights turned on, and a two-way mirror was turned off so Bones could see the other side of the mirror. He saw Adellia and immediately gulped. She was in a chair, just as he was, but she looked as if she'd been roughed up on the other side. Behind her stood a beefier Cardassian than he had ever seen. Bones looked at her, clenched his teeth together, and then glanced up at the Cardassian.

"Not only did you convince a soldier, and several officers, that there was a serious health risk in our hospital…but you sent a transmition out when clearly we said for you not to." The alien bent down, raising his eyebrow, and feeling a response coming from Bones. Sure enough, the man rolled his eyes dramatically and turned back up to him.

"It's not problem you guys believed the bull," Bones said, without even thinking. He just couldn't help himself. A small smirk crossed his cracked lips, but it was punched away by the stronger Cardassian who had yet to speak. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry…sheesh…"

"You're not sorry yet, Dr. McCoy. Would you say you care quite a bit for the woman on the other side of that glass?" the Cardassian asked. He spoke condescendingly, and had an air of superiority as he said that. He was fully sure that he had the upper hand right now.

Bones looked up suddenly, his face stone cold. "Don't. Just, don't." Suddenly he knew what was going to happen. He couldn't allow this to go on…he had to make it stop before it even started. He clenched his fists even tighter, little half-moon marks appearing on his palm from the nails digging in. He didn't seem to mind at all, though…he needed to keep her safe.

"Don't what? Don't this?" he asked, and when he talked into the communicator, one of the aliens on the other side of the glass kicked Adellia out of her chair, picked her up, and slammed her against the wall violently. He held her there when he saw Bones' mortal enemy on the other side raising his hand. "Is that what you were talking about?"

"Stop, damnit! Can't you see she's had enough?" he yelled, careful not to look at her. If he did, he knew he would see her looking beat up, but still willing to fight. And that made him so incredibly frustrated. "Look, we're sorry for sending the transmition, but can you blame us? At this rate we'll whither away like the rest of your damn planet! We're humans, we're trying to survive!""

"As much as I appreciate the apology, Dr. McCoy, that is not the way we do things on this planet. We intend to kill her for her disobedience, and because she is worthless to keep around anyway. We could not barter for anything with her…she's a subpar doctor at best, and the fact that she was clearly not taught the Vulcan ways makes her that much less valuable." He tugged on his lapels, wrinkling his nose.

"So the rumors are true. You are the most ruthless species in all quadrants," Bones snapped. "Let her go. This was my idea, and she…she didn't know what she was doing."

"But we are punishing you, McCoy. We're going to let you watch," he said and pulled out the communicator again. He mumbled some commands and the fighting began on the other side. The stronger Cardassian restrained Bones against his seat as he watched Adellia take a punch on the other side.

She winced, but attempted to fight back. Something in her told her that she needed to fight, to protect herself from the inevitable. She had to survive at all costs. When he came at her again, she ducked and stuck her boot into his back, knocking him away for now. She had a total of zero hand-to-hand combat training classes under her belt, so all of this was going to have to come from some hidden instinct.

Bones tried not to watch as best as he could, but that was soon not becoming an option. His eyes were being held open and his head was forced forward so that he had no choice but to witness the fight going on beyond the glass. He watched as it quickly went from a fight to Adellia being dominated and beat up. He winced when her head was forced against the glass that was the two-way mirror, and she was thrown onto the floor.

He was counting the injuries she had probably sustained. A concussion, definitely. Broken bones. He didn't want to believe she was experiencing organ damage, but she might have. Bones clenched his fists as tight as he possibly could, and he tried to force his eyes closed, but he couldn't. Her body was limp, now, but she was still breathing. In the back of his mind he knew this was take much longer than it would a full human, and for that he hated them even more.

She was hit a couple more times before Bones finally cracked under the pressure. He struggled to look up at the one in charge, but was being held down tightly by the muscle. "God, stop it!" he yelled, and fought against the Cardassian with all of his strength, but it still wasn't enough. "Stop it, she doesn't…deserve this! No one would!"

"She deserves it as much as the last few Starfleet soldiers did," he mumbled, and helped his friend in holding Bones down in his chair. "Don't worry, it won't be long now. A Vulcan's body is very strong, but in her condition, it won't be long. And then you'll have nothing else to worry about. Then you can go back to doing your job on this planet, and forget about her and everything that happened to her."

That wasn't true. As much as this would wear down on his heart, he had the rest of his friends to worry about. But this…this would feel different from anything else. He cared about Adellia as much as he cared about Jim, or Scotty, but this would be a much different sort of hurt. He hoped he never had to hurt like this, but apparently his hoping was all for nothing.

In one fleeting moment, the Cardassian in the other room backed up to survey his work. Adellia was stiller than an early morning in the other room. Her body was laid down askew on the floor, green blood dripping from her lips. She had little color left in her cheeks. Bones winced, looking over with a medical eye, and all the signs were there as far as he could see.

The alien in charge said something to the one in Bones' room, and he turned down to Bones, who looked as if he might just tear the chair apart. "She's dead, Dr. McCoy," he mumbled. "I hope this will teach the medical crew a lesson about using their power to—" he stopped when he got a message on his communicator. He frowned, and spoke in his language to whoever was on the other side.

At once the two of them just left the room, with absolutely no words to either one of them. The other one left briskly as well, having apparently gotten the same message. Bones sat there for a moment before he got up, and peaked out of the cracked door. He saw outside, and among all of the desolate buildings and uneven ground were ground troops from Starfleet. He was watching his own medical crew being pulled from their cells, one by one, just like they walked in.

Bones glanced over to the other side of the mirror. He opened the door into the room and he bent down next to her, frowning to himself. He took a chance, risking being very disappointed, and he took her hand. If she didn't answer him, he could not have possibly felt worse about it. But he had to at least try. "Come on, Adie. You know there aren't any Oscars on Cardassia Prime."

He stared at her face for a moment, seeing it lifeless. Until, that is, a small smile spread across her lips. "I was hoping for Best Saving My Ass, but…" she mumbled, her voice hoarse and soft. When she opened her eyes she saw shock on his face. "I was about a couple of pummels away, but when he stopped…I knew he wasn't going to bother taking my pulse or anything." Adellia closed her eyes again. It was just beginning to register that something wasn't right. Why was he here? Why wasn't she began take out to be buried, or something?

Bones' hand moved up to pushed some bangs out of her eyes. He couldn't hide the smile on his face, but he tried not to be too excited about it, lest something happen and he would have to lose his hope again. "Starfleet's here, if that makes you feel any better. Our transmition worked, I guess…" his voice was soft, but still had that hard edge that seemed to put Adellia at ease. "I really did think you were gone." He sighed, when she smiled a little. "Will you be okay to travel?"

"I will be okay to travel. I have a broken wrist, a broken rib, a head injury, but…I think I managed to avoid internal bleeding, and I will be okay," Adellia said softly, and her eyes got wide when she felt her body being picked up. "Ooh, right…Starfleet…" she mumbled, and she closed her eyes again.

"Yeah. They're here. Took them a damn while, but…" he grumbled, and he rolled his eyes a little bit. "Relax a bit, Adie. I'll get you into a shuttle and check you in and all that jazz."

"I know," she mumbled, and she tried her best to relax in his arms.


	11. Chapter 11

**((A/N awwwww D: last chapter. i own nothing but adie~))**

Three days after they were brought back to the Enterprise, Bones found himself standing in Adellia's room, looking through her chart with mild curiosity. He decided not to wake her up just yet, assuming she would prefer to sleep, but apparently his shuffling around did the trick. He glanced down at her and took out his tricorder, checking up on her now that she was awake and coherent. He smiled at the results, and synced them into her chart with ease.

"How am I doing?" Adellia asked, sitting up a little. She, like so many other crewmembers of the Enterprise, looked a mess. Her body was covered in green bruises, and her arm was in a cast. Thankfully, her ribs had not been broken like she had originally assumed, but her chest was definitely sore from the hits she took. She regained her color a little more after being fed and given water.

"You might even be healthier than me," he joked with a broad smirk. He was just thrilled to see that she was had improved so much…he sat down at the edge of her bed, smiling down in her direction. She looked down to her lap, and at that he frowned. He reached his hand over and put it under her chin to lift her head back up. He looked right into her dark eyes, his light blue ones seeming hard yet welcoming at the same time. "What is it?"

"I was just reminiscing on that horrible food," she lied, and she smirked a little at her horrible lie, but his face remained stone cold. He obviously did not believe her. Adellia looked away, and sighed. "I was just thinking about…you know, what life is supposed to be like now. With us."

Bones frowned, thinking about what she said. "Adie, if you think I didn't mean what I said in those cells…"

"I do."

"Do you?" he asked, and he finally pulled his hand away. "How could I not walk away from that situation—how could anyone—and not see life in a new kind of way? When I saw you lying there, I mean…" he got up, to face away from her. He was clearly uncomfortable, but he wanted to say it, still. He just had to brace himself really quick.

"The regret that filled me was…overwhelming. I just remembered those fights we had, how I treated you, and how…I let us go so far apart from each other…" he finally turned back around to see her highly attentive face. "I mean, that's not happening again. It can't, and I won't let it." He walked over to stand next to her, glancing down at her. "Will you let it?" he asked, a little accusatory. He was getting defensive as a compensation for his honesty, now.

"No, of course not," Adellia mumbled, and she smiled a little bit, taking his hand. She understood he wasn't mad, of course. "I understand precisely what you're saying. How could we just go back to how things were? In some ways, I'd say this…fiasco, might have been a blessing in disguise."

Bones raised his eyebrow, and he wrapped his arms around her carefully, pulling her into a bear hug. "Well, that blessing is the true master of disguise. I have never seen a better disguise from a blessing." The two of them laughed, and he pulled back a bit, looking down and smiling on one side of his mouth. He leaned down and kissed her, as if telling her how glad he was to see she was all right, for once.

Adellia returned the kiss, and for once was not so nervous about it. Their lips lingered together for just a little bit before she pulled apart, and she smiled up at him. Adellia wasn't sure what to say at that moment, so she just squeezed his hand, and took in a deep breath.

"When we get back to Earth, and when you're alright…I'd like to meet your father. Maybe we could all go out and get barbecue." He smirked, pushing back some of her hair for her.

"I think he would like that, yes. I know I would."

He sat down next to her and stayed there for a while, taking her in and allowing the other doctors work on everybody. Bones knew he would have to leave soon to help, but just for now, he wanted to just enjoy her. Something he was slowly learning to do. He knew he couldn't trust her completely, not yet, but he intended to keep his promises. That was just the sort of man he was…the sort of man for her.

**((A/N please excuse the fluff, lol. i'm not much of a fluffy writer, but awww. teehee. well, i enjoyed writing this story and getting all the feedback from everybody! thank you all sooooooooo much for reading and reviewing this fic and the last one too! and guess what. i'm not even gonna lie or tease, there's definitely going to be a threequel xD so if you wanna read it, watch out for it. i think if you add me to the author alert thing it'll tell you automatically, but idk about that. anywho...so watch out for that. tell me what you thought of starlight! or what you hope for for the next one! but again, thank you SO MUCH for reading all of you, for adding it to your alert/faves, and for reviewing. i mean without people checking me out, i probably wouldn't even bother writing. so THANK YOU :3 ))**


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